Saudis plan a $16 million redo of Marina del Rey waterfront space.

Newfield Enterprises International this week will announce the first part of a planned $16 million renovation of waterfront hotels, apartment buildings and retail space in Marina del Rey.

The facelift will be the first extensive rehabilitation of the area since it was developed in the 1960s as an upscale residential and recreational waterfront community. The series of planned projects will also be the first capital improvements since the development filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 1991.

Earlier this year the development, which is owned by Sheik Abdul Aziz Ibrahim of Saudi Arabia under a land lease agreement with Los Angeles County, came out of bankruptcy with the appointment of an asset manager, Century City-based Newfield. The planned renovation project will be paid for by Ibrahim, said Don Bredberg, vice president of real estate for Newfield.

This week Newfield and the company that manages the area's three hotels are scheduled to announce a $5 million renovation of the Marina del Rey Hotel. Scheduled to follow over the next three years are renovation projects at the other two hotels, two retail areas and two apartment buildings.

The total cost of the renovation will be about $15.7 million.

Bredberg said longer term possible projects include development of a community center and expansion of the existing Pier 44 public area and Fisherman's Village, a specialty retail center. In addition, other possible projects include more public or common areas for residents and visitors.

"The marina is getting a little out of focus and outdated. For many years now it has lacked focus and people couldn't quite figure out what it is. The hotels in particular didn't have any marketing niche and the whole area has started to look a little old," said Bredberg.

The capital project will include $3 million in renovations to the Admiralty and Islander Marina apartment buildings, and about $800,000 worth of work on the Marina Beach Shopping Center and Fisherman's Village. Newfield does not yet have start-up dates for the apartment and retail areas renovation.

The focus of the initial capital project will be renovation of the hotels, which in addition to the Marina del Rey include the Marina International and the Marina Beach Doubletree.

The second planned capital project is a $3.3 million renovation of the International, which is scheduled to begin early next year, followed by a $3.6 million rehabilitation of the Doubletree. The Doubletree project could start in March 1994, said Bredberg.

Encino-based Outrigger Lodging Services has been hired by Newfield to manage the three hotels.

"The hotels have largely been undefined as to their market and what kind of properties they are," said Robert Perkins, area director of operations for Outrigger. "What we want to do is improve the properties and position them in definable markets."

According to Perkins, room occupancy at the Marina del Rey Hotel has been in the 50 percent to 55 percent range, between 30 and 35 percent at the International and about 75 percent at the Doubletree. The industry accepted break-even point for most hotels is an occupancy rate of between 65 percent and 67 percent.

According to PKF Consulting, a Los Angeles-based hotel industry consulting company, the occupancy rate at hotels in the Marina del Rey/Culver City area was 75.8 percent in August compared to 68.7 percent in August 1992. The countywide average for August was 71.4 percent compared to 67.5 percent in August 1992.

Perkins said the 160-room Marina del Rey Hotel on Bali Way will be marketed to both leisure and business travelers seeking an alternative to such mid-range brand name properties as Marriott hotels. Room rates at the Marina currently range from $95 to $145 a night.

The 135-room International on Admiralty Way will be marketed to European leisure travelers as a tourist-class hotel and as a small meetings facility.

The 340-room Doubletree, also on Admiralty Way, will be touted as a luxury property, said Perkins. Nightly rates at the International currently range from $85 to $125, and at the Doubletree, rates are between $125 and $175.

The Doubletree is a franchise operation of the Doubletree Hotel Co. of Phoenix, under an agreement which is now being reviewed, said the Outrigger and Newfield executives.

They said the Doubletree may soon drop the franchise affiliation and become an independent hotel.