LA could pay $83M for Mayfair Hotel as homeless residence

During the two years homeless residents inhabited the 294-room Mayfair Hotel in Westlake, they trashed the place. The bill from landlord Mayfair Lofts to the city: $11.5 million.

Now the city of Los Angeles wants to buy the historic hotel at 1256 West 7th Street and once again fill it with homeless people — but local business owners and residents won’t have it, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

The city is set to vote Friday on the $83 million acquisition and renovation.

The boutique hotel was occupied by homeless residents from 2020 to July last year during Project Roomkey, a federally funded program that moved homeless Angelenos off the streets during the pandemic.

But by the time the 97-year-old hotel shut its doors, windows were shattered, bathrooms vandalized and carpet was torn from the floors.

Emails sent to the city described security guards, nurses, hotel managers and others dealing with drug overdoses, property damage and violent behavior, according to the Times.

“The neighborhood is still recovering from Project Roomkey,” Ruben Lares, who lives across from the hotel, told the newspaper. “The purchase of the Mayfair would just completely destroy the community once again.”

Mayor Karen Bass wants the city to buy the 15-story hotel and convert it into homeless housing as part of her “Inside Safe” program. Last spring, the city signed a letter of intent with Mayfair Lofts, an affiliate of ICO Group of Companies, based in West L.A.

The City Council is slated to vote on the purchase Friday, paving the way for the city to spend more than $83 million on acquisition, renovation and upgrades to the Mayfair, not including the money paid for damages. Last September, ICO listed the hotel for $69.8 million.

The Renaissance Revival building, built in 1926, was purported to be a former home of Raymond Chandler. ICO completed a $37 million renovation in 2019, according to Loopnet.

Bass intends to move homeless residents from Skid Row and other areas to the hotel, where  they would receive case management and social services. The hotel would also offer mental health specialists, addiction counselors, nurses, activities and rules that teach residents “how to be a good neighbor,” Mercedes Marquez, the mayor’s homelessness czar, told the Times.

Residents and business owners near the hotel who met with city officials last weekend aren’t buying it. They described open-air drug use, discarded hypodermic needles, antisocial behavior and crime.

Businessman Angat Gaada said rules prohibiting drugs in the hotel during Project Roomkey prompted Mayfair residents to use drugs on the street. He said hotel residents sneaked into his family’s apartment building and used drugs in the stairwell and parking garage, setting off fire alarms.

“The rules were only enforced within the Mayfair. They weren’t enforced outside of the Mayfair,” Gaada said.

Darlene Adderison, who lives near the hotel, said hotel residents played music outside her building so loud it drowned out her TV. When she told them to turn it down, she said, they cursed at her.

“I don’t want them back in this neighborhood,” Adderison said. “I want my peace. I am 66 years old and I want my peace.”

— Dana Bartholomew

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