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Iconic L.A. property won’t be razed
Score one for the preservationists: The owner of the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles has scrapped plans to level the hotel to make room for a new development. Instead, Next Century Associates, along with the Los Angeles Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, have unveiled plans for a revised development plan that would preserve the 726-room hotel.
Next Century Associates originally proposed a project that called for the demolition of the historic hotel and redevelopment of the property with a mixed use project comprising hotel, residential, office, retail, public plazas and open space. However, plans to raze the hotel came under fire from several quarters, including the National Trust, which listed the property as one of America's 11-Most Endangered Historic Places.
The revised development project will preserve the existing hotel building while providing a mix of residential, office and retail uses on the property. The project will undergo the normal city review and approval process including a full environmental impact report (EIR) which will be submitted later this year. It will also be reviewed by the Cultural Heritage Commission for eligibility as a City Historic-Cultural Monument.
“Our discussions with the [Los Angeles] City Council office, the Conservancy and the National Trust have been very encouraging, and we believe the City Council will be excited about the merits of this type of collaborative planning effort,” said Michael Rosenfeld, executive manager of Next Century Associates. “Preservation of the hotel could only be achieved if sufficient additional development was permitted on the site.”
Completed in 1966, the Century Plaza Hotel was built as the centerpiece of Century City, a “city within a city” conceived 50 years ago as a progressive approach to urban planning. Century City rose on the former back lot of 20th Century-Fox Studios. The hotel with its sweeping curved façade, was designed by architect and engineer Minoru Yamasaki, who was also the architect of Century City's Theme Towers and New York's World Trade Center towers.
Posted Feb. 16, 2010
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