The upscale and trendy boutique hotel brand, King & Grove, will manage and operate the Hotel Clark in Downtown LA's revitalization Historic Core
After years of speculation and mystery surrounding the continued renovations going on behind the Chetrit Group-owned Hotel Clark located near 4th and Hill Street in Downtown LA’s revitalizing Historic Core, including the addition of a new pool deck, I am very excited to break the news to the downtown community that we are getting a new King and Grove Hotel!
First off, a little background about King and Grove from their website:
“King & Grove is a new lifestyle hotel brand defined by modern luxury with eclectic influences. Dedicated to creating intriguing hotels that are sophisticated yet accessible, King & Grove is launching a collection of iconic destinations themed by a sense of nostalgia delivered through thoughtfully crafted environments. With an emphasis on immersive service, King & Grove hotels will feature honest and aspiring restaurants and bars, progressive retail, and unique amenities.”
Thanks to a very sharp reader of mine, Rob DeFrancesco, who emailed me a Hotel Chatter article about The Tides Hotel in South Beach Miami being recently acquired by the King and Grove Hotels. The connection here mentioned in the article was that King and Grove–a new boutique hotel brand started by two affiliates of Morgans Hotel Group, Ed Scheetz and Ben Pundole–was also recently infused with investment funds by the Chetrit Group to expand with more locations.
After sending an inquiry to King and Grove asking about their involvement with the Hotel Clark, I received a reply back from Jennifer Foley Shields, VP of Media Relations for King and Grove Hotels, “The Clark will become a King & Grove property, you are correct. At this point, I’m not able to provide any further detail.” And according to the hotel’s website: “King & Grove currently operates The Surf Lodge and Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk [Long Island, NY] and has multiple properties in development in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago.”
The Hotel Clark in Downtown LA will be King and Grove’s fourth confirmed hotel (in addition to The Tides, The Surf Lodge, and Ruschmeyer’s), and as far as we know, the only one planned for Los Angeles. The Chetrit Group’s other Downtown LA hotel property in the making, the Embassy Auditorium, remains a mystery at this point.
King and Grove will be a substantial addition to this part of the Historic Core when it opens (still undetermined at this time), which will inject very much needed energy and life onto this block, forming a much stronger pedestrian connection between Pershing Square with Grand Central Market and Angels Flight.
A closer look at the windows of Hotel Clark and the orange curtains that have been installed inside the rooms
Examples of King & Grove’s hotels:
King & Grove Hotel in Miami South Beach (Photo: King & Grove)
King & Grove Hotel in Montauk, New York (Photo: King & Grove)
King & Grove Hotel in Montauk, New York (Photo: King & Grove)
This is amazing news. I’ve always hoped that this building would finally find new life. Thanks for the info Brigham!
This is fantastic news.
Should give the Standard come competition.
I now await the Ace Hotel’s announcement as to when it is opening downtown. No property in mind, just that it is needed to complete the lodging transformation from stodgy to hip.
Fantastic News! It’s clear that hoteliers from other downtowns recognize the downtown LA is the new hip center of style and luxury. This just makes me giddy.
This is fantastic. Also, with the activity I see at the old Embassy Hotel on 9th..I am awaiting the Brigham Yen announcement of the opening of that space as well. Despite the economy, Downtown is on a roll….btw, the Artisan House is stunning looking at the pics.
Readers, please keep your enthusiasm in check. While this is “potentially” good news, it’s an old, often repeated story from this real estate family. Remember, when Gansevort was looking to operate a new boutique hotel in conjunction with Chetrit at the Embassy?? They have sat on their blighted LA empire for decades now, who no comprehension or care as to how it affects our downtown. Trust me, they will find a way to once again disappoint.
@Rbay – the difference this time around is that the hotel is largely complete. It’s one thing to announce a hotel when the building is sitting empty and in disrepair and little work has been done, but the Clark has seen a flurry of activity in recent months. Also – the key here is that Chetrit is a part owner of the King and Grove chain making it both a logical and easy fit. They make no secret of a Los Angeles outpost of K&G on their website either. The Embassy Hotel is still a mystery thus far, but something is clearly going on there as well with new windows and rooftop construction.
Its getting to the point now where there’s another piece of amazing news for Downtown every single day. Great work as always Brigham, thanks for staying on top of it and keeping us informed!
Lawrence, they have been working on the Embassy for over a year now. every once in a while ill stick my head in when the door is open and you can see that they have made significant improvements. Hopefully that building will have an announcement shortly
Hopefully the vertical neon sign will stay.
@ Dion – yeah there’s definitely a lot of activity at the Embassy Hotel building, which is great. It’s such a beautiful structure.
@ Lawrence Mann – I have a feeling the Neon blade sign will be a key part of the re-branding of this hotel. Each K&G property has a distinct look and feel and I’m interested to see how the interiors of this property will shape up.
This is very exciting news. Though I’m sorry to see the CLARK name go (naturally!) I’m excited for this great old building to be reborn.
Let’s see HOTEL CLARK (10 letters) vs. KING&GROVE (10 letters)…could work.
Some journalistic honing in development in front of our eyes. Good for you, Brigham. Great news about the Clark!
Nice to hear this.
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