Chateau Marmont owner seeks to make Los Angeles hotel a private club by the end of the year – Deadline


The former owner of Chateau Marmont wants to turn the Los Angeles landmark into a private club as the coronavirus pandemic continues to alter the status quo.

In an interview published Tuesday in Wall Street Journal, André Balazs said he wants to get out of the traditional hotel business and is looking to turn the nearly 90-year-old Marmont into a private residential space by the end of 2020. He told the newspaper that he had been considering the idea for about three years, and the COVID-19 era has accelerated its calendar.

Balazs, who also owns the chic Mercer in Manhattan and the Chiltern Firehouse in London, is also mulling over the idea of ​​selling ownership stakes in his properties to guests who become members of the club and who would own part of multiple residences in their Hotels. He noted that guests would love to stay where they knew many of the other people who stay at the properties.

“There is something to be said for meeting people,” said Balazs, who has owned the Marmont for three decades. WSJ. “You can chat with them; you know where they’ve been. “

The star hotelier had to fire almost all of his employees when the virus hit the spring, and told him WSJ that he is not likely to bring them back because he wants fewer workers and many with different skills for his planned private properties.

Looming on Sunset Boulevard east of Roxbury since 1929, the historic Chateau Marmont has a representative as a celebrity residence and is part of the fabric of Los Angeles. He has appeared in films ranging from Myra Breckinridge and The doors to La La Land and 2018 A star has been born. Its most infamous story includes being the site of the overdose death of comedy legend John Belushi in 1982.