Hotel Slated in Little Tokyo : Construction on Miyako to Begin Next March
The Los Angeles Miyako, second U.S. hotel in an international chain of Japanese-operated lodging facilities, is expected to open in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles by spring of 1991.
Construction of the $30-million, 22-story hotel will begin next March on the northwest corner of San Pedro and 3rd streets, with financing from Little Tokyo Associates, a consortium of private investors and banks, joint-ventured with Kintetsu Corp. of Los Angeles. The project is headed by developer Albert Taira for the Associates, in cooperation with the Community Redevelopment Agency.
The facility will be operated as part of the Miyako hotel chain, owned by the Osaka-based Kinki Nippon Railway Co., a Kintetsu Corp. company. Another Miyako hotel has been operating in San Francisco.
Takahiro Okuda, president of the Kintetsu Corp. of Los Angeles, an entity created to oversee the development and operation of the new hotel, said the concept for the Little Tokyo hotel project has existed for more than a decade.
Level of Sophistication
In conjunction with the Miyako project, the developers are negotiating a proposal to build a 102-unit condominium tower on state-owned property at Los Angeles and 3rd streets.
The Miyako hotel chain was approached by the developers to bring a new level of sophistication and hotel services to Los Angeles, Okuda said, in a location that would offer easy access to the civic center and the downtown business community.
The 430-room Los Angeles Miyako will have extensive health club facilities available to hotel guests and local residents, a 1,000-seat ballroom and six meeting and banquet rooms, an executive floor, presidential suite, a restaurant featuring contemporary Japanese cuisine, cocktail lounges, coffee shop and a three-level underground garage, Okuda said.
Guest rooms in the new hotel will average 420 square feet, about 45 square feet larger than standard rooms in other leading hotels, Okuda added. Guest room rates will be comparable to those of leading downtown hotels.
In addition, the hotel will offer traditional Japanese rooms and suites with futons and tatami mats.
Project architect for the Los Angeles Miyako is Shoji Shimizu of Los Angeles, who has had 30 years experience in architectural design in the United States, with such Southland projects as Little Tokyo Square Shopping Center, Little Tokyo Square Theaters, Yaohan Department Store and Market, and the 10-story Professional Building, which is under construction at the southeast corner of 3rd and San Pedro streets.
Previously, for another architectural firm, Shimizu designed the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building and Los Angeles Civic Center Mall.
General contractor for the new hotel is Ohbayashi America Corp.
