L.A.’s Historic Ambassador Hotel Will Be Offered for Sale Today

The historic Ambassador Hotel, once a playground for film stars, business tycoons and even royalty--and the site of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination in June, 1968--will be offered for sale today through a sealed bidding process, the owners announced.

The 68-year-old, mid-Wilshire hotel closed its doors last January amid reports that a joint venture of British and American developers was negotiating to buy the property for $60 million.

The partnership included London-based Walker Power Corp. Ltd., owners and developers of retail and leisure facilities primarily in Britain, and Scott Malkin, a New York City developer whose family owns or has controlling interests in the Empire State Building and commercial properties nationwide.

Morgan-Stanley Realty in New York said that under the new bidding process, potential buyers for the 23.5-acre site can submit a preliminary “non-binding offer” by June 1. After that, a select group of bidders will be invited to submit formal, binding offers.

The seller is the J. Myer Schine family trusts. Schine, a theater and hotel magnate who died in 1971, bought the Ambassador in 1946.