Los Angeles Hotel Mkt. Booms

<B>Los Angeles Hotel Mkt. Booms</B>

By Maria Lenhart

Prompted by rising occupancies and a strong market, Los Angeles will see the opening of several major full-service hotels over the next few years, starting with the 297-room St. Regis Los Angeles in August. Other big projects include the 640-room Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, which is under construction and set to open in fall 2001, and a 1,200-room hotel across from the Los Angeles Convention Center expected to open in late 2003.

Not surprised by the activity is hotel analyst Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of PKF Consulting, who predicted that the city easily will absorb the added inventory. "Los Angeles has had limited growth in supply for most of the past decade, less than 1 percent a year," he said. "There is a lot of pent-up demand. " In creating the new St. Regis, parent company Starwood Hotels & Resorts is converting the former tower wing of the Westin Century Plaza into a separate hotel. Starwood acquired the 1,050-room Westin Century Plaza in February 1999.

Located in Century City on the west side of Los Angeles, the St. Regis Los Angeles will have its own entrance and lobby and feature such amenities as a 30,000-sq.-ft. spa offering personal trainers, yoga classes and a variety of massage and beauty treatments. The hotel also will offer 7,300 square feet of meeting space, an outdoor area for receptions and other events, a pool and sun deck with private cabanas, a fine-dining restaurant and a lobby lounge serving high tea, light meals and cocktails.

Guest rooms, which will offer views of the ocean or the Hollywood Hills, will feature high-tech bedside control panels that do everything from closing the drapes to adjusting the air conditioning. The rooms also will feature DVD and CD players, high-speed Internet access, a laptop safe that provides battery charging, a fax/copier/printer and cordless dual-line telephones.

Later this fall, the adjoining Westin Century Plaza, now with 750 rooms, will be renovated, a project that will include a new entrance and lobby, new signature restaurant and a health spa.

Next on the agenda, the 640-room Renaissance Hollywood Hotel will be part of a $565 million mix-use complex called Hollywood & Highland, which also will include a 3,500-seat theater serving as the permanent home of the Academy Awards ceremony. The complex, which also will feature 50 retail stores, 15 restaurants and several movie theaters, is located on Hollywood Boulevard next to the historic Mann's Chinese Theater.

The hotel will include a new 22-story guest room tower, but part of the property will be converted from a former Holiday Inn on the site. "At this point, the entire building has been gutted and every three rooms is being reduced down to two," said director of marketing Tom Santora.

With business travelers expected to comprise nearly half the guests at the hotel, accommodations will include 98 suites and feature generous work areas with ergonomic chairs, wall safes, coffee makers and dual phone lines with dataports. According to Santora, the hotel, despite its size, will have a "boutique feel" and feature post-modern d&eacute;cor inspired by Los Angeles residential architecture from the 1950s.

With 50,000 square feet of meeting space, the hotel will include a 25,000-sq.-ft. ballroom that is one of the largest in the city. Event space also will include a 2,000-sq.-ft. rooftop Presidential Suite with an outdoor terrace that can accommodate receptions for up to 1,200 people. Overseeing the catering operations will be celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

Other amenities at the Renaissance Hollywood will include a large pool area with private cabanas, called Suntan Beach, a fitness center, business center, restaurant and lobby bar.

Downtown Los Angeles, which just a few years ago was struggling to maintain occupancy levels of 50 percent, also is the focus of new development. According to Baltin, hotel occupancies in downtown L.A. now average more than 70 percent, up from a low point of 47.4 percent in 1993.

In the planning stages is the city's first major hotel within walking distance of the convention center. The L.A. Arena Co., which built the new Staples Center sports arena adjacent to the convention center, will develop the property; a management company has not yet been selected.

Several smaller hotels also are under development downtown, including the 150-room El Dorado Hotel, which is scheduled to open in an historic bank building in summer 2001. Another former bank building has been purchased by Standard Holdings, owner of two popular boutique hotels in West Hollywood, which plans to convert it into a 200-room hotel.

A 75-room boutique hotel is scheduled to be part of Cathedral Place, a mix-use complex converted from an historic church that will also include a performing arts center. Construction on the complex is expected to start this fall.