The Los Angeles City Planning Commission vote to approve Next Century Associates' transformative redevelopment project at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel is the result of a multi-year collaboration between the City, Conservation groups, neighboring homeowners and labor.
Next Century Associates, the owners of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel and development, is a partnership between Michael Rosenfeld's Woodridge Capital Partners and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management L.P. The Oaktree funds replaced D.E. Shaw as the project's investor in 2011.
The Next Century development will offer 1.5 million square feet of mixed use development on six acres including a newly renovated hotel with 394 rooms and suites and 63 residences, two 46-story residential towers designed by Pei Cobb Freed, a nearly 100,000-square-foot retail plaza with shops and restaurants and over two acres of public open space with fountains and courtyards.
Located at the intersection of Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Boulevard in the heart of Century City, the project will connect over 10 million square feet of office space, residences, restaurants and retail stores including the Westfield Century City mall.
Michael Rosenfeld, Managing Partner of Next Century, stated: "Our goal was to create a pedestrian friendly, transportation oriented, sustainable mixed use project that will serve the entire community, connect the elements of Century City and bring economic growth and jobs to Los Angeles."
Next Century worked with Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, the Los Angeles Conservancy, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, neighboring homeowners associations, Century City stakeholders and organized labor incorporating input from all interested parties. The result is a project that received universal support with no public opposition.
John Brady, the head of real estate at Oaktree Capital Management, commented, "The Oaktree real estate team is proud to be involved in an internationally significant development on the Westside of Los Angeles that has so thoroughly incorporated the contributions of a wide-ranging diversity of community stakeholders."
The project is anticipated to start in 2014 and is expected to generate over 3500 construction and permanent jobs and substantially increase tax and sales revenues to the City.
About Woodridge Capital Partners, LLC
Woodridge Capital Partners (www.woodridgecapital.com), headed by its CEO Michael Rosenfeld, is a Los Angeles-based real estate investment and development company with hotel, residential and commercial assets throughout the United States. Woodridge and Rosenfeld have been active in the real estate industry for more than 25 years. Rosenfeld and his partners have numerous hotel interests including the Fairmont San Francisco Hotel, the Fairmont Orchid Resort on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, the Colony Palms Hotel in Palm Springs, and the Hotel Californian in Santa Barbara.
About Oaktree Capital Management
Oaktree is a leading global investment management firm focused on alternative markets, with an approximately $78.7 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2012. The firm emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments in distressed debt, corporate debt (including high yield debt and senior loans), control investing, convertible securities, real estate and listed equities. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the firm has offices in 13 cities worldwide. For additional information, please visit Oaktree’s website at www.oaktreecapital.com.
