LITTLE TOKYO : Hotel Still Stalled; Site to Be Parking Lot

The site of a planned 440-room hotel at 3rd and San Pedro streets will be used temporarily as a parking lot as the developers hash out decisions about their partnership.

Although ground was broken for the Miyako Hotel almost four years ago, the remaining partners, Obayashi America Corp. and Kintetsu Corp., do not know when construction will begin because internal issues must be negotiated, said David Gold, senior development manager for Obayashi.

But financing isn’t a stumbling block, Gold said. The project, which he estimated will cost in the “$100-million range,” already has solid financial backing, he said.

The decision to turn the property into a temporary parking lot does not mean that the project has been abandoned, Gold said. The lot will bring in revenue and will improve the appearance of the site, which was left with a crater when crews razed an industrial building and excavated the cellar, Gold said.

Conflicts among the six original partners have delayed the project since the groundbreaking, according to Gold. Most of the original partners pulled out, leaving Obayashi and Kintetsu to restructure the venture, Gold said.