A New Lease on Life for an Old Hotel

"When MacLeod proposed to rehabilitate the old hotel for families with low incomes, they belittled the idea. Poor families are like everyone else, the authorities said. They don't want vertical housing, no matter how handsome. They want fresh air, grass, an outside place for kids to play. They won't even apply to rent apartments in a high-rise."

"But MacLeod, a developer, was the only one willing to try and save the doomed historic structure, so officials decided to give him a shot. And they soon learned they'd been wrong about the building's potential. When the office opened for applications, 5,000 people showed up to rent the 142 newly refurbished apartments."

"In December the place celebrated its official reopening, as the MacLeod Townhouse, with apartments from 900 to 1,400 square feet, and monthly rents from $400 to $700. It is an experiment in progress--one that cost about $26 million--and is still controversial."

Rob MacLeod rehabilitated a historic 14-story hotel on Wilshire Boulevard that once hosted celebrities and featured the famous Zebra Room nightclub into affordable housing. The structure, originally built as a residence for the wealthy, later operated as a luxury hotel under Hilton and Sheraton. City housing officials initially dismissed the project, believing low-income families would reject vertical housing in favor of single-family homes with outdoor space. MacLeod persisted as the only developer willing to save the deteriorating historic building. Upon opening applications for the 142 refurbished apartments ranging from 900 to 1,400 square feet with rents between $400 and $700 monthly, 5,000 people applied. The $26 million project, officially reopened as the MacLeod Townhouse, proved officials' assumptions wrong and demonstrated the viability of adaptive reuse for affordable housing.

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