California Apparel News

Los Angeles-area hotel owners have found a friend in the fashion industry.

As tourist and retail traffic continues to recover rather slowly following Sept. 11 and the prevalence of a slower marketplace in general for quite some time, local hotel operators have especially felt the pain. In their repositioning efforts, they’ve lately been spending millions on redesigns and remodels to attract key customers, among them, members of the fashion industry.

With its young, hip and travel-oriented designers, buyers and executives, the fashion industry has been a key target for area hoteliers, who are now responding with upgraded product to deal with changing market conditions, which are driven by trends such as Los Angeles’ growing status as a design capital with emerging designers and fledgling fashion week that call for more cool entertainment venues where business can be conducted.

Such older hotels as the Hollywood Roosevelt, Sunset Marquis, Park Plaza and others have been in the restyle mode. Real estate players with fashion industry ties, including Hertz Investment Group, which owns the California Market Center (formerly the California Mart), and Efrem Harkham, who is affiliated with Jonathan Martin, are also investing in hotel properties. Hertz is venturing into hotel management as it remodels the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, while Harkham has just completed a renovation of his Luxe Hotel Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Aside from renovations of existing hotels, hotel operators are also converting other buildings to hotel space to adapt to the lack of land in desirable markets. Andreacute; Balazs last month opened the downtown Los Angeles Standard hotel, a 207-room business hotel that formerly was the site of the Bank of California building. The hotel is in the heart of Los Angeles’ financial district and offers meeting rooms, a fitness center, junior suites and a pool deck.

The fashion industry also appears to now be embracing hotel spaces as venues in which to show product. West Coast Collective has been staging shows at the W Hotel in Los Angeles’ Westwood section, and Michael Cohen is bringing an apparel show called Urban Rocks Fashion to the refurbished Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel this summer (see California Apparel News, May 17–23). Meanwhile, apparel companies continue to rely on hotels to host satellite shows during MAGIC International in Las Vegas.

“The attraction of hotels is the convenience they offer,” said Cohen. “We are high-end. MAGIC doesn’t necessarily have the environment we want right now. We want cleanliness and convenience. We don’t want our clients having to run all over the place to see lines. At a hotel, they can be fed, go to parties and have all the sponsors in one place.”

The work-in-progress Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is located on Hollywood Boulevard, which has seen new projects such as the Hollywood & Highland retail/entertainment center bring new life to the old street. Sam Cole, who helped elevate the Avalon Hotel on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles to new status, will manage the $10 million Roosevelt project, which is near completion with new rooms and common areas and dining/lounge facilities to be finished this summer and fall.

“We are recreating the property to become a gathering place for stylish, international travelers and Angelenos alike,” he said.

Among the new elements of the 335-room hotel is an art project by Franco Vecchio called “Hollywood Handprints” that will adorn suites with celebrity handprints encased in concrete a la Mann’s Chinese Theater, which is located nearby. (The Roosevelt was the site of the first Academy Awards in 1929.)

Hotel spokesperson Eileen Colavita said the completed project should make for a Mondrian-like effect—referring to the repositioning of the Mondrian Hotel following a Phillipe Stark renovation—with a “cooler climate” and more star appeal.

Facelift for the Park Plaza

Hertz is going for a similar effect as it embarks on a redesign of the 77-year-old Park Plaza Hotel, which is located near MacArthur Park and not too far from the California Market Center, host to numerous apparel and gift shows. The $10 million renovation is scheduled to be completed by summer 2003.

Hertz hopes to restore some of the luster of the 1920s-era Art Deco hotel with a redesign being undertaken by noted designer Jim Magni along with local architect Peter DeMaria.

Hertz managing director Chavi Hertz said the aim is for a high-end product catering to executives, celebrities and visitors, something which she said is hard to come by in the area.

“We’ll be catering to business executives flying into Los Angeles and that includes fashion people,” said Hertz. “We’re looking at providing high amenities and service. You can’t find that downtown.”

Hertz said the city’s cleanup of MacArthur Park has improved the general aesthetics of the surrounding area, which went downhill during the 1960s.

The hotel is open and hosting events during renovation. Some of the Park Plaza’s lower floors have been completed, and common area interiors will feature a new world theme with Renaissance-era murals, imported crystal chandeliers and woven tapestries.

The building’s 50-foot-high painted ceilings and proximity to downtown, Hollywood, the Los Angeles International Airport and other points of interest will make it a sought-after location, she added.

“We’re already hosting events with upwards of 4,000 guests,” Hertz said.

Harkham is catering to the fashion trade to fuel business at his recently remodeled Luxe Hotel Rodeo Drive, the only lodging on the retail-rich street in Beverly Hills. With his ties to the industry and the hotel’s prime location on Rodeo, the hotelier plans to make the Luxe the showcase of his chain.

“Mr. Harkham wants this to be a welcoming mat for Beverly Hills, a boutique hotel that combines the elegance of Beverly Hills with the lifestyle of Southern California,” said hotel spokesperson Brian Watson. “We have been and expect to see lots of fashion people, editors and executives as well as international visitors and celebrities.”

Noted architect Vincent Wolf oversaw the hotel’s $15 million redesign and combined modern and classic styling to blend in with the atmosphere of Rodeo Drive, said Watson. The building is wedged between two Valentino boutiques and expects to be a gathering spot for New York-based fashion buyers and executives who visit their Beverly Hills stores, he added.