Hospitality Design - February 2018 - 85

A rendering of the Hoxton's guestrooms, dressed in
a muted palette with pops of green and blush pink

Renderings courtesy of ENNISMORE and GULLA JÓNSDÓTTIR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Expect contemporary design elements that
juxtapose original details, says Adam Goldstein,
one of the firm's partners: "An example of this
is the historical, double-height lobby where our
custom curvilinear, bronze, and walnut lobby
bar lives under the warm glow of a restored
original skylight. The two work together to
make the lobby a warm and inviting space."
Another former YWCA building
constructed in 1924 on the historic Broadway
corridor will become the 148-room Proper
Hotel with an expected spring opening. With
eclectic interiors by Kelly Wearstler, Proper
will include two ground-floor restaurants and a
rooftop pool and lounge. Along with an indoor
swimming pool and a basketball court-turnedscreening room, the fourth-floor library will
feature original ceiling frescos.
Just across the street, the Hoxton will
debut one of its first North American outposts
(Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, and Portland,
Oregon are also in the works) at the end of the
year, with 174 rooms in the 10-story 1920 Los
Angeles Railway building that once housed
garment manufacturers, a candy shop, a
restaurant, and a grocery store. "We always
look for great buildings, and [this one] was too
good to pass up," says Sharan Pasricha, founder
and CEO of Ennismore, the Hoxton's parent
company responsible for the interiors. "We open
in neighborhoods where we feel a real sense
of creativity and community. We love to be
surrounded by independent restaurants, bars,
and homegrown boutiques and downtown is all
about that."
In terms of restaurants, slated to open
this fall, City Market South is a mixed-use
development in downtown's Fashion District
that is revitalizing a former wholesale produce
market built in 1909 that is still owned by
descendants of the co-op of multiethnic farmers
that originally ran stalls there. Conceived by
the downtown-based team of developer LENA
Group and architecture firm HansonLA,
City Market South converts eight concrete
structures totaling 75,000 square feet into
spaces for restaurants, bars, creative offices,
and events complete with restored vaulted
bow-truss ceilings and a large plaza for al fresco
dining. This is the first phase in a 20-year effort
to adapt the remainder of the expansive market.
Row DTLA in the Arts District of
downtown is a similarly ambitious project that
spans 30 acres at what was once the terminus
of the Southern Pacific Railroad, where six
concrete warehouses and produce markets
from the 1920s have been transformed. The
design team of Rios Clementi Hale Studios
(RCHS), reimagined the campus as an

The refresh of the Mayfair hotel recalls the golden
age of Hollywood with black cage chandeliers and an
illuminated plaster sculpture that resembles a flower

anti-mall, though it contains 100 stores, 15
restaurants, and a staggering 1.3 million square
feet of creative office space decked out with
plywood, metal panels, and exposed structural
steel informed by the warehouses' former
function. (RCHS led the architecture, landscape
architecture, and environmental graphic design
for the project. Abramson Teiger Architects
and Elysian Landscape also contributed.)
"We're mesmerized by these relics-beautiful
old warehouses that were at one time
considered utilitarian, but the construction
has integrity and the spaces are unique," says
RCHS principal Sebastian Salvadó. "The

scale and geometry of the alleys and streets
make the complex feel like a small city, and
we maintained that quality.""Downtown Los
Angeles is one of the most unique markets
in the world right now," says Nicolo Rusconi,
founder of BLVD Hospitality, a downtownbased real estate development, investment, and
management firm with a portfolio that includes
the Ace, Soho House, and the Hoxton. "Los
Angeles is still establishing its cultural identity,
and hospitality developers, investors, and
operators are attracted to the opportunity to be
a part of the curation and genesis of the identity
of downtown."

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