LOS ANGELES-A bankruptcy judge here has given the school district permission to forge ahead with its acquisition of the famed Ambassador Hotel for more than $76.5 million, just 24 hours after the proposed transaction was thrown into limbo by a higher offer from a private-sector developer.
The LA Unified School District struck a preliminary deal last month to buy the nearly 24-acre Mid-Wilshire site to build a sorely needed school for the area, a mostly moderate-income neighborhood where the population has exploded in recent years. The hotel, once a favorite hangout for celebrities and later the site of the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, is now mostly vacant.
The district reached a deal with the project's owner, the bankrupt Wilshire Center Marketplace, to buy the property last month. But the transaction was temporarily blocked earlier this week by federal Bankruptcy Judge Samuel L. Bufford after Beverly Hills-based Casden Properties said it was willing to pay about $15 million more than the district had offered.
Casden's last-minute offer angered district officials and even Mayor James K. Hahn, who charged that the company was putting its own profits over the interests of children. But Casden officials now say talks with the seller have stalled, in part because they would not meet Wilshire Center's demand that Casden indemnify Wilshire Center against a lawsuit that the district could file to block the sale.
With the Casden deal apparently dead, Judge Bufford ruled that the school district could move forward with its purchase. Though the sale could close relatively quickly, the district has not announced a timetable for construction to begin.
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