New hotesl downtown draws tourists to LA area

LOS ANGELES — A British hotel operator has purchased a historic building in downtown Los Angeles for $30 million and plans to transform the decaying structure into a hip, stylish hotel, according to JLL, the brokerage involved in the deal.

The investment is the latest bet that the neighborhood’s renaissance has created a place where tourists, not just business travelers eyeing a comfortable environment, want to stay. And with the money coming from overseas, it’s a sign investors worldwide think so too.

“Downtown is thriving and international companies are all taking note,” said Sara Lo, a senior manager specializing in the hospitality business at consulting and accounting firm Ernst & Young.

JLL said that Hoxton is now “underway on plans for the hotel,” but did not provide further details. The operator has hotels in London and Amsterdam and plans to open another in New York and one in Paris this year, according to its website.

A representative from Hoxton owner Ennismore of London declined to comment.

Hoxton describes its brand as the “anti-hotel,” where travelers find not only a bed, but “a place where people could eat, drink, work and play any time of day.” Last year, British newspaper the Independent called Hoxton’s Amsterdam outpost “an almost painfully trendy hotel in the Netherlands’ hippest city.”

The entry of a niche foreign hotel firm into downtown Los Angeles marks a reversal from decades past. The area’s hotel market has long been dominated by corporate giants catering to business travelers, said Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality Group. Tourists instead flocked to West Hollywood or beach communities such as Santa Monica and Marina del Rey.

But that’s changing. A city center once derided as a ghost town after 5 p.m. is now home to a bustling restaurant and bar scene. Developers are increasingly looking to create smaller “lifestyle” boutique hotels — ones with uniquely designed rooms and high-end food and nightlife offerings.

A Hoxton hotel would join several others nearby.

Across the street, the 148-room Downtown LA Proper Hotel is planned in a vacant building constructed in the 1920s as the home of the Commercial Club of Southern California, a business booster group. Two blocks away is the popular Ace Hotel, a boutique that opened last year in the historic United Artists building and is credited with drawing more investment to the area.

The downtown market is strong — with a 77 percent occupancy rate that outperforms the 75 percent average for the nation’s top 25 markets, Lo said. In all, 4,000 hotel rooms are under construction or planned downtown, with a quarter of those boutique projects, Lo said.