ICO Group of Companies has put a shuttered hotel in Downtown L.A. up for sale, The Real Deal has learned.
An entity linked to the L.A.-based investment firm is listing the 294-key Mayfair hotel at 1256 West 7th Street for $69.8 million, or about $237,000 per room, according to online listings for the property. Maxim Hotel Brokerage is marketing the property for sale. ICO did not respond to a request for comment.
ICO has owned the 1926-built property since 2012, property records show. The company finished a $37 million renovation on the hotel in 2019.
After the pandemic hit, the firm signed a two-year contract with the city of Los Angeles to use the property for Project Roomkey — a city-run program to repurpose hotel and motel rooms across L.A. as temporary shelters. When the contract with the city expired last month, ICO kept the hotel closed.
In April, ICO scored a $39 million refinancing package from Israeli bank Bank Hapoalim, according to public records filed with L.A. County.
Any new owner will have to renovate the guest rooms, according to marketing materials from Maxim. Alternately, the hotel could be converted into multifamily or student housing, given its proximity to the USC, the brokerage added.
ICO, run by Alexander Moradi, currently owns more than 3 million square feet of residential and commercial properties across California and the Southwestern U.S., according to its website.
In L.A., the firm redeveloped a 500,000-square-foot office building at 610 South Main Street into 314 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail space.
Downtown L.A. hotels have struggled to recoup losses during the pandemic. In January, the Standard hotel in Downtown L.A. closed for good, after struggling with county-imposed closures and low occupancy rates.
Hotel projects in Downtown L.A. have also faced financial hurdles — in July, Beijing-base developer Lizard Capital filed for bankruptcy at a planned 170-key project at 633 South Spring Street.
Also, Relevant Group, a prominent hotel developer in L.A., is selling a stake in its 111-key Morrison hotel in Downtown L.A. — a historic property it plans to redevelop.
