Related Signs Mandarin for Downtown Hotel

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LOS ANGELES-The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has signed a letter of intent to manage a 275-room hotel planned by the New York-based Related Cos. as part of the previously announced 1.2-million-sf, $1.8 billion Grand Avenue project. The hotel will occupy the first 20 floors of a 48-story tower designed by Frank Gehry that will feature luxury for-sale residences on the upper floors.

The hotel, expected to open in summer 2010, will be a key part of Gehry’s design for a Downtown neighborhood that would occupy a full city block of four acres. The neighborhood will also include other residences, retail, restaurants and public amenities directly across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which Gehry designed.