Broadway’s Ace Hotel Just Sold for $103 Million

Image via Carol M. Highsmith / Creative Commons

Since even before it opened, Downtown’s Ace Hotel has been responsible for dramatically altering the stretch of Broadway it occupies. But when the United Artists building (which holds the hotel and the theater of the same name) went up for sale for a rumored $100 million last December, marketing materials suggested that new owners could, for a fee, boot the Ace from the building. Now, the LA Timesreports that the historic building has sold for $103 million, and it doesn’t look like the new owners want to make any changes.

Buyers Chesapeake Lodging Trust have said that they want the Ace Hotel Group to continue to run the hotel. Update 4:23 p.m.: The executive and chief financial officer at Chesapeake tells the LA Business Journal, “We just think that it’s the right brand for the property. We like the Ace name and we’ve seen it operate well in other cities.” He adds that there will be making no changes to staff, management, or daily operations.

Chesapeake seem to be turning their heads to the fantastically renovated United Artists Theatre—now a live music/film screening venue called The Theatre at the Ace Hotel. They’re anticipating “revenues in excess of $4.4 million and net operating profit of over $2 million.” Over 100 events are planned for the 1,600-seat venue this year alone. The theater had been cited in the marketing materials as one of the many “value enhancement opportunities” the building offered.

Greenfield Partners, the sellers of the Ace building, purchased it in 2011 for $11 million—a deal even back then, as the edifice had previously been listed for $15 million. The United Artists building was designed by Walker & Eisen for United Artist partners, including Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and DW Griffith. The theater inside designed by C. Howard Crane and opened in 1927. The UA partners are not responsible for the enormous Jesus Saves sign on the building, which was left behind by the Wescott Christian Center, who also rented the building.

Via Curbed LA