Local News in Brief : Clark Hotel Tenants Won’t be Forced Out

Long-time residents of the historic Clark Hotel will be able to remain in their rent-controlled apartments under a tentative agreement between the tenants and the hotel’s new owners, a Chinese government-run company.

A lawyer for May Wah International--which is renovating the 500-room building in downtown Los Angeles into a “first class tourist hotel” and permanent marketplace for Chinese imports--hammered out the deal Monday in Mayor Tom Bradley’s office with Rent Stabilization Board officials.

Last month, May Wah officials served eviction notices on eight of the 75 tenants, many of them elderly. After a protest Monday morning outside the Chinese consulate, aides to Bradley offered to serve as mediators.

The agreement will allow any tenant accepting the offer to remain in the 74-year-old building in rooms “that are comparable or superior to their current accommodations” with minor rent increases once renovations are completed.

“They will not be unfairly forced out,” Bradley said in a statement.