Century Plaza Hotel Deal: Landmark Will Be Preserved

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles hotel that hosted a welcome-home party for the Apollo 11 astronauts and other historic events will remain standing under a deal reached between the mid-century landmark's owners and preservation groups that sought to stave off the structure's demolition.

Michael Rosenfeld, who leads the partnership that owns the glass and aluminum Century Plaza Hotel, said his group has agreed to preserve the crescent-shaped building, which it previously planned to replace with two soaring towers. The deal allows building on other parts of the nearly six-acre property.

"I think we found an opportunity to do something unique and special on this site," he said.

Rosenfeld's group, Next Century Associates, along with the Los Angeles Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation planned to publicly announce the agreement Thursday.

Next Century bought the 19-story hotel in 2008 and announced a $2 billion plan the following year to replace it with new towers containing condos and shops. But preservation groups argued that the hotel's history and architecture made it worth saving.

The Century Plaza Hotel was built at the core of Century City – a district of high-rises on the former site of a 20th Century Fox movie lot – and opened in 1966. It was designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, whose later work included New York City's World Trade Center towers.

Besides the Apollo 11 party, the hotel hosted President-elect Ronald Reagan's victory celebration and Bob Hope's celebrity-studded Century Ball. Its popularity among Washington politicos on overnight trips to Los Angeles earned it the nickname "West Coast White House."

The preservation deal was reached under the goading of City Councilman Paul Koretz, whose district includes Century City. Koretz had vowed to stymie the hotel's destruction by having it declared a historic monument.

"One of my pet peeves throughout my entire life has been watching our historic treasures get demolished one by one," said Koretz, who grew up in Los Angeles. "For me to have the Century Plaza demolished on my watch would have been devastating."

The plan allows the owners to build behind and to the sides of the hotel, but obliges them to maintain the hotel's visibility from the street. Rosenfeld said the new structures would include a mix of homes, offices and shops.

The group also plans to reconfigure the hotel's interior, nearly halving the number of guest rooms to 400 but adding 45 condominium units.

"I am so glad that everyone came together and found a way to preserve this architectural gem," actress Diane Keaton, a trustee of the National Trust, which put the hotel at the top of its 2009 list of important historical sites endangered by neglect or development, said in a statement.

As part of the deal, the developers also agreed to restore the hotel's tarnished aluminum exterior to its original luster. The preservation groups plan to meet with the developer four times a year to monitor the project.

"Together we've shown that with perseverance and dedication, preservation advocates, developers and our elected officials can re-envision development to save our country's one-of-a-kind places," National Trust President Richard Moe said in a statement.

Comments

[JScott]

09:55 AM on 02/12/2010

Jeez some of these commenters just don't get it do they. Century Plaza and Motel 6 are completely different, there are plenty of Motel 6's there's a hi rise one by the airport not the usual low rise tacky one if that's what you want. People are right about not have much 'history' aka real old stuff, since 60's and 70's are nearly antique. But the LA conservancy makes the effort, win a few lose a few, the Ambassador Hotel sadly is gone, but there is ONE Van De Kamp's windmill restaurant left in Arcadia (it's now a Denny's, and the windmill doesn't turn, but can't have everything I guess).

[ReelBusy]

01:31 PM on 02/11/2010

When I first moved to LA from NY I took a meeting at a recording studio.
After the tour the folks took me to lunch in their car.
As we pulled out of the studio and drove down the street one of them pointed to a school and said with some pride
"That school has been here for 35 years."
I smiled and nodded because the town I had grown up in was burned by the British twice. Once during the Revolution and once during the War of 1812

But this is the definition of heritage in LA.
If it goes back to the 70's or the 60's they are desperate to hang on to it because the place is truly like a Hollywood set being redecorated each decade.

The Century Plaza is a nice place and I have had many interesting meals and meetings there but it's not the central point of all history in LA.

The Century Plaza itself is a symbol of the destruction of Hollywood's past as it sits on the old 20th Century back lot that was sold off back in the 60's during the great real estate divestiture of the studios.

It is an irony only to be found in LA that this symbol of the destruction of the Golden Age of Cinema is being saved as a landmark itself but in LA you take what you can get historically.

[ipastor01]

01:06 PM on 02/11/2010

Why? The historical significance is negligible and the architecture is nothing special. Brutalism ?

[MacGuffin]

12:11 PM on 02/11/2010

This is great news. I like that they are going to renovate the hotel, halve the number of rooms and do a limited condo offering. Means that the owners are willing to invest in Century City and take the property upscale.

The Century Plaza should be up there with other ultra luxury LA Hotels (Four Seasons, Peninsula, et al) and this will position them to do it.

[Littleguylobby]

11:22 AM on 02/11/2010

I prefer Motel 6. After all, they leave the light on for you.

[wilson0004]

08:18 AM on 02/11/2010

This hotel is something special. Presidents, heads of state, entertainers and many important people have stayed there. What are we going to do, just take away all the old landmarks and make the city look less personable. Thank you for allowing it to be saved. Right On Century Plaza. Continued long life.

[wadenelson1]

06:58 AM on 02/11/2010

There's truly nothing grosser than a 20+ year old motel. Twenty years of disinfectant and roach spray permeated into the wallpaper, carpets, and bathroom walls. Stains of blood, feces, urine, dog urine, and everything else in the carpets and corners.

Grout in the bathroom that is beyond....mildewed. Chipped bathtubs and showers. Caulking that's black or long gone, allowing water to leak to the drywall/wood behind & beneath the toilet & shower. Rotten wood beneath the leaking sink pedestal.

Bedbugs.

Plumbing that is clogged by minerals, delivering water pressure that is minimal.

Some architect needs to design a 100% "rebuildable" motel room. Concrete walls where the drywall gets totally ripped off. A modular bathroom; you unplug the old one from a pipe chase, use a forklift to remove the old one and slide a completely new one in every 5 years. A doorway designed to accomodate this R&R.

I'd rather stay in a 2 year old Motel 6 than a 20 year old Radisson.