Hotel investor churns inventory as purchase of two sites nears.

INTERSTATE Hotels & Resorts is under contract to buy the Hilton Ontario Airport is eyeing a deal for the Hilton Pasadena, according to sources close to both deals.

Interstate, the Arlington, Va.-based hotel management arm of MeriStar Hospitality Corp., is negotiating terms of a nearly $43 million agreement for the 296-room Hilton Pasadena and its 27,000-square-foot meeting center.

At the same time, it has reached an agreement with Prudential Real Estate Investors for the 309-room Hilton Ontario Airport hotel for about $33 million. Calls to Prudential were not returned.

The deals represent a turnabout in Southern California for MeriStar, which is selling the 226-room Hilton San Pedro Port of Los Angeles and the 131-room Courtyard by Marriott Century City. Two months ago, it reached a deal to sell the 71-room Santa Barbara Inn for $16.5 million to a Fresno investment group, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing and brokers familiar with the deal.

The Pasadena hotel, on South Los Robles Avenue, is owned by a partnership of Shidler Group and New York-based real estate investment firm Angelo Gordon & Co.

C.A. Anderson, Interstate's executive vice president of development and acquisitions, declined comment. Rob Koger, president of Molinaro Koger, the McLean, Va.-based hotel brokerage representing the Pasadena property, would only say that a deal would likely be complete by the end of Christmas week.

"We are dealing with a couple of different purchasers but we haven't decided on any one of them," Koger said.

Private Dining

Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Inc. plans to build a private dining facility adjacent to its Chinois on Main restaurant in Santa Monica.

The company won approval of its plans last week, when the Santa Monica City Council voted 5-1 to allow the construction.

The freestanding, 50-seat private dining room will take the place of two vacant retail storefronts and will have a separate kitchen and a different staff from the main restaurant. The new facility could open within six to eight months, according to Bella Lantsman, Chinois' manager.

Calls to Wolfgang Puck Worldwide were not returned. During the city council hearing, Wolfgang Puck said that Chinois, which opened 20 years ago, was conceived as a neighborhood bistro but gained an international reputation and now requires the extra seating.

Councilman Michael Feinstein and a few of the restaurant's neighbors opposed the addition, saying there wasn't enough parking.

"This is a classic case of spot zoning because people like Chinois," Feinstein wrote in an e-mail. "We have a plan for the street that puts limits on the number of restaurants because of the parking shortage. But we have de facto approved a new restaurant without any consideration of its impact."

Lantsman said Chinois valets use a nearby parking lot, limiting the traffic impact on the neighborhood. A 15-space lot nearby is reserved for the private dining room, she said.

"People who rent out private dining rooms typically come by limo or taxi," she said. "But regardless, we have enough parking for all our guests."

Last Dance

Luxe Worldwide Hotels LLC is nearing completion on a $10 million expansion and renovation of the ballroom at its Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard.

Construction on the 6,000-square-foot ballroom is complete, although crews are still finishing landscaping on the surrounding gardens and fountains, said Efrem Harkham, president and chief executive of Luxe Worldwide. The facility is scheduled to officially open this month, he said.

Due to some neighborhood opposition, it took Luxe Worldwide eight years to get the necessary permits and approvals to make the expansion.

"It was a long process," said Harkham. "We had to accommodate the neighbors, just like the Getty, as far as noise and parking but we took care of all their needs. We are a community hotel and we understand the neighborhood should have a say."

Harkham declined to say what the average cost would be to rent out the ballroom, which can seat 300. Already, he said that the ballroom is booked every weekend through May.

"There hasn't been much new construction in the banquet world, especially in terms of hotels," Harkham said. "So the reaction has been very strong."

Privately held Luxe Worldwide Hotels manages 200 boutique hotels worldwide. In L.A. County, the company has the 88-room Luxe Hotel Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and the 99-room Century Wilshire Hotel in Westwood.

Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 263, or by e-mail at [e-mail].