Le Meridien Hotel could get new name in deal with Hyatt.

DEVELOPMENTS halfway around the world could have a big impact for the Le Meridian Hotel Beverly Hills.

Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts Ltd., based in London, is in the midst of negotiations with its creditors, who are collectively owed $1.4 billion and have begun seizing properties in the United Kingdom.

A partnership of Lehman Bros., one of Le Meridien's largest creditors, Hyatt Corp. and Sandi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has proposed to buy the chain's 126 owned and operated worldwide assets, including the Beverly Hills property.

Le Meridien officials consider the Lehman-Hyatt buyout the "favored" option, according to Karen Walker, a publicist with London-based Finsbury.

Under the terms of the deal, as reported by Reuters, Hyatt would kick in $32 million and take over management of the properties, while Lehman and Alwaleed--for a combined investment of about $130 million inequity and working capital--would own them.

A Hyatt spokesman said it's against company policy to comment on pending proposals. Lehman officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Walker wrote in an e-mail that the Le Meridien brand would live on under Hyatt management and that the buyout shouldn't affect the operations of that hotel.

"There are no plans to rebrand any of the hotels as Hyatts," Walker wrote. "Le Meridien is a strong international brand and will remain separate and distinct from Hyatt."

But if Hyatt takes over managing the properties, local hotel analysts and brokers say it's likely the Le Meridien name will be no more. If the deal wins out as expected, the hotel, just south of the Beverly Center, would probably become a Hyatt Regency or a Park Hyatt, according to Jordan Richman, a senior vice president in Grubb & Ellis Co.'s hospitality group.

"I have a feeling that the Le Meridien brand is going to be history," he said.

Pasadena Passage

The 307-room Hilton Pasadena hotel has been put on the market for $42 million by a partnership of the Shidler Group and New York-based real estate investment firm Angelo Gordon & Co., according to hotel brokers.

The partners bought the property from Pacific Realty Trust four years ago in a $55 million deal that included the hotel, an office building and the subterranean parking garage. Neither Shidler nor Gordon returned calls seeking comment.

Molinaro-Koger, a McLean, Va. brokerage, has been retained to market the property, according to local hotel brokers. Calls to Robert Koger, president of Molinaro-Koger, were not returned.

In 2002, the 13-story Hilton Pasadena's occupancy averaged between 78 percent and 80 percent, with an average daily room rate of $115, according to Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Arias Hospitality Group.

Shidler had listed the hotel for $50 million early in 2001 but the company did not receive the bids it wanted and it took the hotel off the market after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Fashionable Again

The Los Angeles Fashion District Business Improvement District, which encompasses 90 downtown blocks, has been unanimously renewed by the city council for another five years.

A group of disgruntled businesses had challenged the BID's renewal with an alternative body of their own, called the Apparel District. The proposal had created a stalemate among property owners that stalled the BID's renewal for several months.

Though the Fashion District was renewed, supporters of the Apparel District successfully lobbied to have some representatives added to the board. Those positions previously had been appointed by the Fashion District administration.

Changes were made to the Fashion District's bylaws in June, and the Apparel District dropped its proposal and threw its support behind the existing Fashion District.

The district incorporates eight new blocks east of the original 82-block area to take into account new fashion showrooms at the San Pedro Market Annex that will open in November. Reflecting the new properties, the district's annual budget will grow by $500,000.

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