amid upgrades, cecil hotel readies new restaurant bar
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The transformation of Main Street into one of Downtown’s most vibrant urban districts will hit a new milestone this summer.
Plans to upgrade the historic 15-story Cecil Hotel at 640 S. Main Street were announced last year.
As work continues to improve the upper-level rooms with full-sized bathrooms, fresh finishes and air conditioning, changes are also ongoing for the ground floor retail suites. The hotel’s new operators are in the process of constructing a neighborhood bar and grill for the commercial space attached to the south side of the newly renovated lobby.
A full description and name for the venue are still being finalized, but a few details have already been decided as metal framing begins to outline the bar area. Seats for 80 patrons are to be included over a row of booths extending the length of the interior connecting to a compact dining room in the rear.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served, bringing a “comfort food” menu intended for hotel guests and community residents alike.
Ana Segura, director of sales and marketing for the Cecil, states a closing time of 10:00pm is likely after the restaurant debuts this June or July.
A Glimpse of What’s To Come
Flanking the northern end of the ground level is a vacant storefront which may be converted to an auxiliary lobby for the planned boutique hotel component.
Approximately 140 rooms outfitted with contemporary touches on the first seven floors will be known as Stay, a lodging concept geared towards the European/Asian tourist market. A complimentary rooftop bar and lounge is under consideration.
More details on the rebranding will be available in coming months.
Meanwhile, the top seven floors above Stay will be converted into a budget-driven hotel concept.
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12 comments
I believe that there some kind of lawsuit regarding the conversion from SRO to tourist hotel. That said, this is a great project for Main Street and downtown.
Holey sheet, that lobby is amazing!
^^^ true that!
Good looking lobby!
What’s the deal with this place? I’ve looked at reviews online, and they’re all over the map. It sounds like it’s been partially upgraded, but there’s still a major SRO element to it, and that it’s a real crapshoot as to what kind of lodging you get if you check in. How does one stay here and avoid the SRO lodging?
Please allow me to clear up one or two details lacking, or incorrect, in this article. I am the President of the hotel management company that operates the Cecil Hotel, and the entity which has been hired to renovate this venerable Los Angeles landmark.
First of all, this property has not operated as an SRO residential facility since about 2001. In fact, the 600-room hotel currently has only about 80 full-time residents. The hotel is now primarily in the business of renting rooms to a traditional hotel clientele. Having said that, the Cecil Hotel is NOT seeking to displace our residential guests, as has been alleged by other media sources. On the contrary, we are looking forward to upgrading the Cecil Hotel for all of our guests, residential or otherwise. We are currently in the process of procuring building permits for a number of prospective renovation projects at this facility, including an electrical system upgrade, plumbing improvements and, eventually, the addition of two new elevators to reduce wait times for vertical transportation.
As reported above, we are also hard at work at creating a new restaurant concept for the original Main Street Grill, an outlet that has been closed for quite some time. Permits have been procured for this project, and construction is already underway. This restaurant will serve as a much-needed mid-priced dining alternative for this rapidly-changing increasingly-residential neighborhood.
Looking into the future, we are considering a number of additional hotel positioning alternatives but, other than the 140-room Stay concept, no final decisions have been reached on any future renovation and/or repositioning for the hotel’s remaining non-residential guestroom floors.
We are excited to be part of the history and the future of the Cecil Hotel, and we look forward to serving this community for many generations to come.
Bill:
We applaud the efforts underway at the Cecil Hotel. The project will be a huge boon to the neighborhood. However, to protect our credibility, describing the Cecil Hotel as an SRO residential facility is not incorrect.
I realize it’s an issue undergoing scrutiny at the moment, and even though the Cecil may primarily being renting rooms to “traditional hotel clientele,” the building is still considered a residential facility by the city Housing Department.
Cecil Hotel Gets a Makeover
Upgrades Stirs Trouble at Cecil Hotel
Some quotes from these two articles:
“Cordova last year told Los Angeles Downtown News that he hopes to have the Cecil removed from the city’s roster of residential hotels.”
“Last spring and again this summer, the Housing Department compiled a list of the city’s more than 200 residential hotels. All Downtown Los Angeles establishments that made the list are subject to CRA guidelines for residential hotel conversions.
The guidelines dictate that developers who convert any Downtown residential hotel must keep the building as affordable housing for at least 55 years; any rooms lost to renovation must be replaced with comparably priced units; and rents cannot be substantially raised.”
“CRA Project Manager Lillian Burkenheim said that like many area hotels, the Cecil ‘has always been an SRO that has been used on an ongoing basis by people in the area’ as their primary housing.”
The distinction to which you allude is this…. In 2006, the City of Los Angeles adopted an interim control ordinance (“ICO”) which was intended to restrict the conversion of the city’s low-income housing inventory into residential condominiums and loft apartment facilities. According to the ordinance, these restrictions were intended to apply to those hotel properties that were “occupied, for sleeping purposes by guests, which is also the primary residence of those guests, but specifically excluded any hotels which were primarily used by transient guests who do not occupy that building as their primary residence. The litmus test for this residential vs. transient status was intended to be applied as of November 2, 2005. In 2005, less than 1/3 of the Cecil Hotel’s occupancy was residential in nature.
You are correct that the Los Angeles Housing Department does still consider the Cecil Hotel to be a residential facility. However, the “issue undergoing scrutiny” to which you refer is whether that assessment should have ever been applied to the Cecil Hotel in the first place.
For a modest-priced hotel to have a lobby as impressive looking as the one in those photos is another reason it’s a shame that the Cecil ( and the environment around it) was allowed to become so shabby and disreputable for so many decades. By comparison, there are some higher-rate hotels in Southern California whose check-in/lobby areas are not as distinctive in appearance.
If any city agency ends up hurting efforts to upgrade the Cecil, then the legal, political and social minds responsible for that should be tarred and feathered. Or what deserved to be done to the bureaucrat at the Planning Commission who several months ago said that, in order to prevent further gentrification, no liquor permits should be issued to new restaurants in downtown.
in response to the essay you wrote on 03/25/08 on this website, you wrote that you “are currently in the process of procuring building permits for a number of prospective renovation projects in the building” but has there not been some controversy over said permits already? As far as I can remember renovation had started in the beginning of this year. And I believe the you were to cease any further construction after inspection and after the city had not yet granted you those permits. But construction continued did it not? And also is it not true that several residents were moved due to such construction to less desirable locations within the hotel? How about the mysterious decline of tenants after the Lanting Group took over. Seemed like every week we were losing 4-6 tenants. I know several great tenants who suffered going weeks without water, days without electricity and days without the cable t.v. they were suppose to receive with their contract. No one took the initiative to help them. Their complains went unheard just like the lack of permits went unheard by your company. All in all its a great thing that downtown is getting upgraded, but at what cost? Surely you value your customers and tenants safety and satisfaction over money…right?
Cecil Employee - You are badly-informed on several points that you have raised above. First, under the LAHD Interim (and Permanent) Control Ordinance(s), there is a clear distinction between Primary Renovation Work and cosmetic renovations. Primary Renovation Work includes major renovation projects such as major electrical work, the addition of elevators and other large-scale renovation projects. Cosmetic renovation, such as painting, replacing carpeting, replacing furniture, etc. is not covered under this ordinance. It is true that, earlier this year, we commenced the addition of soffitted corridor ceilings on the unoccupied sixth floor at the Cecil Hotel, but we immediately ceased this work when we received a stop-work order from the LAHD. Since then, the only work we have undertaken has been cosmetic renovation.
Last year, residents were given the opportunity to move into renovated units on the second and third floors, receiving a credit towards their monthly rent in the process. Some chose to take us up on this offer, others did not. These were not “less desirable” units, as you allege but, rather, were nicer than the units being vacated. The reason for this undertaking was to minimize the impact that our cosmetic renovations would have on our resident population. Again, nobody was forced to move. Acceptance of this offer was entirely voluntary.
When Lanting Hotel Group took over management of the Cecil Hotel, there were a considerable number of tenants who were not paying their rent. There were also other tenants who were engaged in illegal activities within the building. When my firm took over, we put a stop to this nonsense. On the other hand, tenants have ONLY been evicted for failure to pay rent or for arrest and/or conviction for illegal activities. Contrary to the many rumors that are flying around about town, there is NO effort underway at the Cecil Hotel to eliminate our residential tenant population. I have stated, on many occasions, that we attempt to treat our residents with professionalism and respect at all times. Incidentally, the pace of these evictions has not even come close to the number of 4-6 tenants per week that you suggest.
Absolutely nobody at the Cecil Hotel has gone for weeks without water, days without electricity and/or days without cable television. These accusations are ridiculous and, frankly, inflammatory. In fact, this suggestion causes me considerable doubt as to the legitimacy of your claim that you are actually a Cecil Hotel employee. Nevertheless, let me be clear about this. We respond to every one of our residential tenants’ concerns. We value their tenancy here, we rely on the rent that we receive from them, and we are dismayed at the continuous inflammatory comments being made by politically self-interested parties in an attempt to disparage this hotel’s reputation in the community.
Let me say thank you Mr. Bill Lanting for clarifying. It’s actually quite refreshing to have someone respond to issues to give two sides to a controversy.
Also I think the Cecil looks great and it appears that this type of renovation is beginning to happen all around the Historic Core and will hopefully turn downtown into a full time residential/shopping/nightlife district after decades of neglect.
I am for maintaining a level of affordability for housing but what we have let downtown become up until 5 years ago is sad.
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