Nightclub owner to launch hotel brand

It’s not your father’s luxury hotel.

That’s the pitch entrepreneur and nightclub owner Sam Nazarian -- the mastermind behind Hollywood hot spots Hyde Lounge and Area -- is making for his latest venture, a new brand of luxury hotels.

SLS Los Angeles, formerly Le Meridien at Beverly Hills, will be the first hotel in the SLS Hotels brand, expected to debut in early 2008. Nazarian said he hoped to launch five hotels in five years, in New York, Mexico, the Caribbean and other destinations.

The hotel will be managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which operates more than 850 properties worldwide, including the St. Regis, Sheraton, Westin and W brands.

Nazarian, chief executive of SBE Entertainment Group, said his hotels would be positioned between Starwood luxury chains St. Regis and W.

“There’s a space between those two worlds,” he said.

As Chief Creative Officer Theresa Fatino described it: “There was room for a very chic, quality, luxury-minded brand that didn’t take itself so seriously.”

Nazarian has spent the last 2 1/2 years creating signature -- and exclusive -- elements to launch the brand.

Philippe Starck, who redesigned the Mondrian Hotel in 1996 and has paired with Nazarian on the trendy Brentwood restaurant Katsuya, will design the look and feel of the hotels. Under a 15-year agreement, Starck “can’t design hotels, restaurants, bars, lounges with anyone else,” Nazarian said.

Chef Jose Andres, named top chef by the James Beard Foundation in 2003 and by Bon Appetit in 2004, is to help develop restaurants for the new brand.

The chain also will rely on synergy with Nazarian’s clubs and restaurants, which include the Abbey, Privilege and Lobby. But it won’t be in the traditional way, as with the Mondrian and the Standard, where the clubs are inside or on top of the hotels. Nazarian’s clubs and hotels will be separate, he said.

“We want to let people have the sense that they don’t have to fight with the demographic” going to the clubs, he said.

The company is developing room-key technology that would give hotel guests preferential treatment at Nazarian’s other properties as well as allow them to charge drinks or dinner to their rooms.

Nazarian’s entry comes as investors snatch up hotels and lodging companies. Limited opportunity to build new hotels is creating huge demand and high room rates, making hotels an investment that can yield quick profits.

“If there’s any room in the market, it would be in luxury -- especially if somebody has a really good idea,” said David Brudney, principal of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based hospitality consulting firm David Brudney & Associates. But, he said, “there have been some bumps in the road” and problems developing “new upscale, mini-Four Season properties.”

The beachfront Miramar Hotel in Montecito, for example, is on its third owner in as many years. New York hotelier Ian Schrager gave up on his plans for a funky 213-room hotel for lack of funds. He sold it to Beanie Babies tycoon Ty Warner in 2005 for $43 million. Retail developer Rick Caruso bought the landmark hotel this year for $50 million with plans to make it into an upscale, family-friendly resort.

SBE Entertainment owns the Ritz Plaza in Miami’s South Beach and recently acquired the Sahara Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Nazarian is also a real estate investor and owns Element Films, an independent film production company.

kimi.yoshino@latimes.com