Following last week's news that there may be some sort of compromise deal being worked out in regards to the Century Plaza Hotel, today City Councilman Paul Koretz, who has basically said he'll throw his body in front of a wrecking ball to save the hotel, elaborated more on what on what type of scenarios that he's considering. Speaking at a Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum luncheon at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, Koretz said: "I think we can make [the hotel] economically viable, and so I am going to work with the developer, who I would say has been pretty reasonable to deal with, and we may be able to come up with a design that allows some interior alterations of the building, but keeps the Century Plaza Hotel functional and allows some other things to be done on the site."
"If you look at it, the site is big enough that you could plop a second Century Plaza behind the first...I’m not going to propose that, but certainly you could build something additional. And there are things you could do internally."
Asked if there was any way to put the two proposed towers behind the hotel--developer Next Century Associates originally wanted two 50-story towers-- Koretz said the site wouldn't allow for such density, but a project like a 15-tower, for instance, would fit. Koretz also said he didn't believe the area in the front of the hotel was utilized in the best way, and that a one-story restaurant, for example, could go in that spot. And Koretz said he wouldn't be opposed to a scenario that saw some of the hotel rooms turned into condos, too. Basically, the preservationists would be happy with all of these proposals, but how's the developer feeling, really? He's not going to make nearly the money he would have banked if his original project had gone up.
· Century Plaza Vote Delayed, Mysterious Talks Continue [Curbed LA]
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