|
|
August 24, 2005.
The Century Plaza
Hotel, where Ronald Reagan celebrated his presidential
victory; Arnold Schwarzenegger, his gubernatorial victory;
and the astronauts, the first manned flight to the moon; is
in the process of being purchased.
According to Andy
Fixmer of the Los Angeles Business Journal, the buyer is the
Chicago based Global Hyatt Corp., and the price is
$293,000,000 or $403,000 for each of the hotel’s 728 rooms.
Those figures represent the highest price ever paid in
California per hotel room.
Hyatt expects to lay
out $22,500,000 to renovate and remodel hotel guest rooms
and common space. It will add a Regency level and a Hyatt
regency Club.
The hotel was
designed by the Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki and
completed in 1966. Since then it has hosted numerous motion
picture world premiere banquets as well as every American
president since Lyndon Johnson. A demonstration of over
10,000 anti-war protesters outside the hotel when Johnson
was giving a speech is believed to have convinced him that
another presidential campaign would be dogged by protesters
and further inflame the divisions within the country over
Vietnam. Some politicians and historians have credited the
demonstration as among the reasons Johnson not to run for
reelection.
When the hotel
opened, it was considerably more beautiful at night than it
is today. Outside each room was a long fluorescent light,
which created a spectacular nocturnal night show. However,
the lights almost turned night into day. Even window shades
and curtains did not stop the light from shining into the
windows of people trying to sleep. Tract No. 7260 lodged a
protest as did many neighbors whose homes faced the Century
Plaza. They did so despite the generally acknowledged
belief that the white fluorescent lights had added class and
beauty to a drab skyline.
In deference to the
neighborhood, the hotel switched off the fluorescent
lights. Then, one night without any warning, the lights
went on again. But this time they were amber and unlike the
bright, beautiful white lights, they did not disturb people
in their bedrooms. Now, forty-five years later, the amber
lights, not the beautiful white ones, remain the signature
of the Century Plaza Hotel.
Sunstone Hotel
Investors, Inc, an investment firm headquartered in San
Clemente, will share ownership of the hotel with Hyatt,
which will operate the facility to be renamed the Hyatt
Regency Century Plaza.
The Century Plaza
Hotel along with the St. Regis Hotel was purchased six years
ago by the Pivotal group for a total of about $220,000,000.
Pivotal then spent another $60,000,000 on renovations for
both hotels.
In 2004, Pivotal
sold the St. Regis to Related Cos. for about $125,000,000,
or $417,000 per room. Related has announced plans to
demolish the 300 room St. Regis and to replace it with
luxury condominiums. |