Porn Stars, Loopnet, and the Hotel Cecil
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — It's odd to get your commercial real estate news through the blogs of porn stars, but sometimes that's just the hand you're dealt. Google's spam-filled blogsearch led me today to this account of the Hotel Cecil written by Tanya Danielle (warning -- that is a link to a porn site).
The 600-room Hotel Cecil was built in 1927 and sits on the edge of skid row in downtown Los Angeles. For years I had wanted to go inside it, but somehow had never gotten around to doing so. I had made the same mistake with the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and ultimately missed my opportunity altogether. ... I wish I had checked into the Park Plaza for an afternoon or maybe a night while I still could, but I waited too long and now it is no longer open to the public or used as a hotel. In all likelihood the Hotel Cecil will be closed to the public in the future as well. Recently I noticed that commercial real estate site Loopnet.com has a listing offering the Hotel Cecil for sale. Presumably investors will purchase the property at some point and convert it into yet another pricy Los Angeles pseudo-loft development.
I hadn't realized the Cecil was for sale, so I checked Loopnet and indeed it is. They're asking $29,500,000 if you're interested.
The part of Danielle's tale that's posted on the blogspot page is fascinatingly well-written. I can offer no opinion on the promised "rest of the twisted story" only available to members of her site.
What sort of confused world is this when porn stars are talking about Loopnet in blogs?
Scott Mercer on September 07, 2006, at 07:39AM – #1
Surely the Cecil is a Skid Row facility, but it's probably the nicest one. I know that sounds like damning with faint praise, but they have really put a lot of money into it in the past few years. The lobby is spectacular. I've lived next door for over a year now and I've seen a slow improvement. There's a new mini-market scheduled to open in the first floor retail any day now.
I guess they've been putting all those repairs into in the hope of selling it.
Scott Mercer on September 07, 2006, at 07:42AM – #2
Another interesting note on the Loopnet listing is that the hotel has an annual profit of over 3 million dollars.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on September 07, 2006, at 08:03AM – #3
Yeah, if those cash-flow numbers are accurate that's pretty crazy. I couldn't have guessed.
martin schall on September 08, 2006, at 04:40PM – #4
...somebody was asking you-are-here.com for photos - there's already a new homepage on the way