L.A. Mayor Karen Bass got a major win at the recent city council meeting where, in a 12-2 vote, members approved the purchase of the historic Mayfair Hotel. The city will now set out to turn the 1920s property into interim housing for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
The Mayor’s plan includes purchasing the Mayfair for $60 million and then investing $23 million in upgrades to the 294-room hotel.
“We need to do all that we can to get Angelenos off the streets and into temporary housing as fast as possible while permanent housing is still being built. The proposed purchase of the Mayfair is an important step toward that goal. I want to thank Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, Council leadership and the Chairs of the Council Committee on Housing and Homelessness, Government Operations, and Budget, Finance and Innovation for partnering with me to bring people inside and save lives through a citywide approach,” Bass said via press release. “Together, with actions like this, we can sustain our momentum toward confronting the homelessness crisis.”
The property had been listed at nearly $70 million in recent months. Bass’ team confirmed that the city signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Mayfair Lofts, the hotel’s owner, earlier this Summer—though how much the city had offered in the deal was unknown at the time. The hotel benefited from a comprehensive $37 million renovation from in 2019, completed by current ownership just prior to the Covid pandemic.
Under the proposal, the city would provide an array of services on the Mayfair’s ground floor including substance abuse counseling, mental health and public health services. The proposed plans call for the Mayfair to be a permanent interim housing program where homeless people can live for up to a year before finding their own apartments.