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Westwood’s Doubletree Is Sold to Texas Firm

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Times Staff Writer

The Doubletree Hotel Los Angeles in Westwood, a longtime way station for visitors to UCLA, has been sold to a Texas real estate investment company that plans more than $5 million in upgrades.

Behringer Harvard announced Wednesday that it bought the hotel at 10740 Wilshire Blvd. from Kansas-based Linquist & Craig Hotels & Resorts Inc. Behringer representatives declined to say how much their investment fund paid, but the property was in escrow for $33 million, hotel consultant Alan Reay said.

The 19-story hotel was completed in 1972 and also serves tourists and business travelers to the Westwood office district.

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Behringer Harvard will close the hotel in mid-2006 to begin a year of renovations to turn it into a boutique hotel operated by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Group, Behringer Senior Vice President Jason Mattox said. Improvements will be made to rooms, fitness and spa facilities, and the pool and lounge area. The number of rooms will be reduced from 296 to 260 as the number of suites are increased.

It will reopen as Hotel Palomar and include a new four-star restaurant, Mattox said.

“They’re going to be a very hip, very high-end hotel” said Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group. “They’ll be able to compete with the W in Westwood and the Viceroy in Santa Monica.”

The Palomar will be the first Kimpton hotel in Los Angeles. San Francisco-based Kimpton operates 40 boutique hotels in the United States and Canada.

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