New Otani’s name changes
The new owner of the New Otani Hotel & Garden in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles has renamed it the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens and will retain the property’s Japanese theme.
Crestline Hotels & Resorts Inc., the new manager of the 21-story hotel and retail complex at 1st and Los Angeles streets, announced the change Friday as the company took over operations.
The property was sold by its Japanese owners in August to 3D Investments, a private, Beverly Hills-based real estate partnership. Neighborhood representatives in Little Tokyo expressed concern then that the hotel might lose its ethnic flavor.
The New Otani, completed in 1977, has been the site of many local cultural activities such as Nisei Week and family events such as wedding receptions and anniversary parties.
“Our hope has always been there would be a continuation of these kinds of relationships with the hotel,” said Chris Komai, a spokesman for the Japanese American National Museum. “The fact that the new owners are going to maintain the motif and thematically be the same as the New Otani is very encouraging to us.”
About $8 million worth of improvements have been made to the hotel in the last 18 months and more are planned, said Dave Durbin, president of Crestline. “It will become more upscale,” he said.
The Kyoto Grand is the second hotel in California to be managed by McLean, Va.-based Crestline. The company typically operates large full-service hotels such as the 434-room Kyoto Grand, said hotel consultant Donald Wise of Johnson Capital.
“They have a very institutional pedigree,” Wise said. “This fits their profile.”
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