Bunker Hill will be the home of a five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel as part of the $2.05 billion Grand Avenue project, officials announced last week.

Related Cos., developer of the Grand Avenue project that will stretch along the top of Bunker Hill and include approximately 2,600 housing units and 449,000 square feet of retail, said that the hotel will be completed in 2010. The project is expected to break ground later this year.

The hotel will include 275 rooms and will occupy the first 20 floors of a 48-story Frank Gehry-designed building to be constructed at the corner of Second Street and Grand Avenue. The remaining floors will hold 250 luxury condos.

A similar plan is in place in South Park, where the coming 54-story Convention Center headquarters hotel will hold 1,000 hotel rooms - in separately run establishments with Marriott and Ritz-Carlton branding - and 216 luxury condos.

The Mandarin Hotel is a primary feature of the Grand Avenue project and will cost $185 million, according to Community Redevelopment Agency documents. The developer is currently asking for 20 years of city tax breaks to help with funding. The Convention Center hotel will be exempt from paying hotel bed taxes in the initial years after it opens.

The Grand Avenue hotel is expected to create up to 500 jobs. Phase one of Related Cos.’ project will also include a 50,000-square-foot specialty food market, a major bookstore, a food hall, a 35,000-square-foot health club and a 25,000-square-foot event facility. The project is awaiting approval from the CRA. However, four recent hearings before the agency board have been postponed.

Bill Witte, president of Related, said the hotel will add a 24-hour feel to the area and have a public bar, terrace and lounge.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, which owns 20 hotels around the world, is also located in Related’s Time Warner Center headquarters in New York’s Columbus Circle. The hotel there charges about $750 a night for a standard room and up to $4,000 a night for a suite.

Witte said that Mandarin Oriental’s success at the Time Warner Center is one of the reasons why the company decided to come on board the Grand Avenue project.

“I think because of that project, [Mandarin] truly understood the value of vertically integrated, high-quality, mixed-use projects,” Witte said.

While Witte acknowledged that the hotel would “not be for everybody,” he said it would fill a necessary niche in Downtown Los Angeles.

He said the hotel will not be a direct competitor with nearby four-star Downtown hotels because people who want to stay at a five-star accommodation usually end up in West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

Witte said he expects the hotel will attract people attending or doing business with the cultural hubs on Bunker Hill such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Colburn School.

The condos above the hotel will provide services similar to those anticipated for the Convention Center hotel, which is being developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group. The Ritz-Carlton will operate those condos.

“The hotel is crucial to providing the value to condominiums above it, which will have the quality of service level that isn’t available in Downtown or in L.A.,” Witte said.

Source: www.downtownlascene.com

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