LOS ANGELES-The newly opened Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles may be the catalyst to redevelopment in downtown's historic core. The boutique hotel is in the former United Artists Theater, a landmark building in the Old Bank District.

"Significantly, Ace's structure will also pioneer the southern end of the Historic Core, which is just starting to see the intense type of development that the northern portion has enjoyed over the past ten years," says John Arnold, Killefer Flammang Architects project manager, the architecture firm that led the Ace Hotel redevelopment and that has converted several landmark buildings in downtown's Old Bank District.

Built in 1927, the United Artists building is an example of Spanish-Gothic architecture originally developed by Hollywood stars Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. The 182-room Ace Hotel retained much of the original property's charm. "Since it is a registered landmark building, the City's Office of Historic Resources has required that many building features, including the theater, tower and terracotta facade, be retained," says KFA design principal Wade Killefer.