Key Compton Hotel Quietly Becomes a Ramada : Urban renewal: The city was not consulted on a franchise agreement last month, despite the facility’s role in a planned economic revival.

The Compton Lazben Hotel--considered a key factor in the city’s hopes for an economic revival--is now the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center.

A Ramada spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that a Ramada franchise was sold to the Lazben Financial Co. for a one-time franchise fee of $88,200 sometime last month. Ramada will also get service fees and an increasing percentage of the room sales receipts over the next three years, topping off at 3%.

Lazben Financial is one of several corporations controlled by Naftali Deutsch of Beverly Hills and his four sons, who built the hotel complex--partly with city financing.

The franchise agreement, which does not change the ownership of the hotel, will be a boon to business, said Benjamin Deutsch, one of the sons.

“There are a lot of benefits. One is that you get worldwide exposure,” Deutsch said, explaining that the hotel would be listed in all Ramada reservation guides. “Plus, Ramada has a system hooked into 25,000 travel agencies around the world and they do mailings to those agencies.”

The announcement of the Compton franchise was included in the most recent mailing Deutsch said.

From the time the $35-million hotel and convention center entered the planning stages, the project has had problems. The city and developers fought over financing and construction specifications; construction was shut down for months until the two sides reached an accord.

The 288-room hotel was originally to have opened in May, 1988, but did not open until last fall. However, the top four floors are still not complete.

Some City Council members said this week they are concerned that they were not told in advance about the franchise. At their meeting Tuesday, the council told staff members to find out whether Compton’s interests have been protected in the franchise agreement.

“The best thing we could have is a major hotel in Compton,” Councilwoman Bernice Woods said Wednesday.

However, she added, “they should have told us” about the franchise.

“If this is going to be beneficial to the city, then why was it hidden?” Councilwoman Patricia A. Moore asked after the council meeting. “This developer does not have a history of telling us the total truth. I want to know for myself. I don’t want to take his word and his documents.”

Moore and others have complained that the developers would make agreements with the city about completing construction on the hotel, then stop work, saying they needed another loan.

Copies of the franchise agreement were distributed to council members last week during a meeting with developers. The council requested the session after some members noticed the Ramada sign on the hotel.

This summer, the developers were negotiating with the Hilton and Sheraton hotel groups for a franchise. Moore said she wants to know why Ramada was chosen over the other two.

Moore and Councilman Maxcy Filer insisted that the contract with the city precludes the developers from entering into agreements without city permission.

“I don’t want that process to happen again,” Filer said of the franchise talks that did not include the city.

Deutsch said his family believes that it has the right to negotiate such business agreements without city involvement.

The Deutsch family and the city have had a rocky relationship from the start, often arguing over financing for the hotel, which is located alongside the Redondo Beach Freeway at the Alameda Street exit.

This spring, the developers defaulted on $6.8 million in construction loans from the city. And the council is angry that the top four floors of the hotel have not been completed.

In August, the city’s chief building inspector, William L. Edwards, wrote a report listing uncompleted items, including the top floors, tennis courts and a swimming pool. Deutsch said the pool is now finished and that the top floors of the hotel will open soon.

A Ramada spokeswoman, Nancy Fisher, confirmed that the hotel does have a new franchise in Compton but would not comment on anything else having to do with the hotel, the city or the loans.

City officials, stung by the attempts of neighboring areas to disassociate from Compton, have always insisted that the city’s name appear in the hotel’s name.

However, this week they seemed to accept the loss of identity. Deutsch said Ramada does not allow city names or even his family name--Lazben, which stands for the names of the four Deutsch sons, Lawrence, Andrew, Benjamin and Zachary--on their hotels.

“It doesn’t bother me one way or the other,” Councilman Filer said.