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From drug den to luxurious inn

Rick Son, left, Brian Okazaki and Kevin Burke stand outside the downtown L.A. building they bought last year. They plan to transform the structure at 1130 S. Hope St. into a luxury boutique hotel. Full story

Rick Son, left, Brian Okazaki and Kevin Burke stand outside the downtown L.A. building they bought last year. They plan to transform the structure at 1130 S. Hope St. into a luxury boutique hotel. Full story  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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A century-old brick apartment house and former drug den near Staples Center is slated to be reborn a luxurious inn as demand for hotel rooms grows in downtown Los Angeles. The boarded up building is a conspicuous ruin in a neighborhood decidedly on the upswing, alongside a trio of top-drawer condominium towers built in the real estate boom of the 2000s. Full story

Boutique hotel

The developers hope to preserve the exterior brick walls while gutting and rebuilding the rest of the structure into an inn with 45 to 60 rooms, depending on how high they are allowed to build. Full story  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Boutique hotel

Kevin Burke, a retired life insurance salesman from Manhattan Beach who is one of the building’s owners, checks out a room. Full story  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Boutique hotel

Owners Rick Son, left, Kevin Burke and Brian Okazaki examine the building. The interior, damaged by neglect, water leaks and vandalism, is probably beyond repair, Burke said. There are holes in the roof, the walls are cratered and the place -- which reeks from the excrement of its many resident pigeons -- may be structurally unsafe. Full story  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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