Downtown Los Angeles just got a new hotel with a very old soul. The Hotel Clark, a Beaux-Arts building on South Hill Street that sat closed for roughly three decades, has quietly soft-opened. The 348-room lifestyle hotel is now taking reservations, and its signature restaurant, Votana, holds its grand opening party on October 15.
For a downtown that has watched this building sit empty for most of a generation, the reopening is a genuine moment. Here is what to know about the new Hotel Clark, the Hotel Clark opening date, what is open now, and what is still coming.
Hotel Clark Los Angeles History: A Century on South Hill Street
To understand why this opening matters, you have to know the building. The Hotel Clark stands at 426 S Hill St, an 11-story Beaux-Arts building constructed in 1914 by railway entrepreneur and real estate investor Eli P. Clark, who opened it as a 555-room hotel. In its early decades it was a classic downtown grand hotel, the kind of place where traveling salesmen and vaudeville acts checked in for the week.
The long decline started in the second half of the century. The property spent years as low-rent apartments, then went through a string of owners, disputes, and stalled conversion plans that kept it closed to the public for decades. At various points it was slated to become condos, then apartments, then a hotel again. Each plan collapsed. Interior renovation work was substantially complete for years, with finished rooms sitting behind locked doors, while lawyers and developers fought over the building’s future.
That long limbo is over. OTH Hotels Resorts, the hospitality management firm now running the property, completed the redevelopment and turned the building into a 348-room lifestyle hotel. The soft opening was announced September 29, and the building is finally doing what it was built to do in 1914: welcome guests.
The Hotel: 348 Rooms in a 1914 Landmark
The redevelopment kept the bones that made the Clark a landmark. The Beaux-Arts facade has been restored, and the interiors pair the building’s historic character with contemporary design: calm palettes, tactile materials, and layouts that feel curated rather than corporate. The positioning is lifestyle, not luxury-for-luxury’s-sake, aimed at travelers who want a sense of place along with a comfortable bed.
Rooms run from standard guest rooms up to a 650-square-foot king suite with a separate living area, according to press coverage. Reported starting rates are $207 per night for standard rooms and $508 for one-bedroom suites. For a downtown hotel with this much character, that entry rate is aggressive, and it is worth noting that soft-opening rates rarely survive first contact with strong reviews.
Rooms and Suites: What to Expect
The 348 rooms are the heart of the bet. Standard guest rooms are designed around rest and renewal, with refined finishes and modern touches throughout, while the suites add separate living areas for travelers who need room to spread out. Sizes vary within each category, which is worth knowing when you book: if space matters, it pays to confirm the specific room type rather than assuming.
The design language throughout is quiet luxury, historic architecture softened by contemporary interiors. It is a deliberate contrast to the glass-tower aesthetic that dominates new downtown hotel construction, and for travelers who collect character hotels, that is the entire pitch.
The Amenities: Skyline Pool, Game Room, Fitness Center
The amenity list reads like a deliberate play for the convention and event crowd. The hotel sits near the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, and it offers a skyline-facing pool, a fitness center, and a communal game room stocked with pool tables, shuffleboard, and classic board games.
Downtown’s skyline is one of the most underrated in the city at night, and the pool deck puts you right in it. If high-altitude drinking is your thing, our ranking of the highest rooftop bars in Los Angeles is worth a look too.
The game room is a smart touch for the Convention Center corridor, where groups and teams are constantly looking for somewhere to land after the day’s sessions end. Pool tables and shuffleboard beat another hotel bar with the game on mute.
Votana: Mediterranean-Inspired California Cuisine, Opening October 15
The headliner is Votana, the signature Hotel Clark Los Angeles restaurant, led by Executive Chef Gio Koletty. The kitchen blends California seasonality with the coastal cuisines of Greece, Italy, Spain, and Southern France, backed by a curated wine list and a craft cocktail program.
Votana is currently in its first-look phase, with its official grand opening party on October 15. For a neighborhood where destination dining still clusters in pockets, a Mediterranean flagship inside a reopened landmark is worth watching. The coastal-Mediterranean brief gives the kitchen a wide canvas, from Greek island seafood to Southern French technique, all filtered through California produce.
The restaurant’s timing is deliberate. Opening the dining room to a first-look crowd before the grand opening lets the kitchen find its rhythm, and by the time the October 15 party arrives, Votana will be operating at full speed. If you want to be among the first to try it, the weeks between the soft opening and the grand opening are the window.
Clubhouse at Clark and the Lobby Lounge
Beyond Votana, the property includes Clubhouse at Clark, a first-floor elevated sports bar built around bourbon and rye cocktails with draft beer. It is positioned as the game-day answer for the Crypto.com Arena crowd, and an elevated sports bar with a serious whiskey program is a combination downtown has been missing.
The Lobby Lounge serves cocktails with a daily social hour featuring signature drinks, savory bites, and desserts. Hotel lobbies have become the new neighborhood bars in downtown Los Angeles, and the Clark’s version leans into that, with a daily ritual designed to pull in locals as well as guests.
The Neighborhood: Convention Center Corridor
Location is doing a lot of work here. The Clark sits within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, which makes it an obvious base for conventions, concerts, and games. The surrounding blocks are some of the most walkable in downtown, with the Historic Core’s restaurants and bars to the north and the South Park towers to the south.
For visitors, the pitch is simple: a character hotel at a reasonable rate, steps from the venues that bring most out-of-town visitors downtown in the first place. For locals, Votana and Clubhouse at Clark are the reasons to walk through the restored lobby even if you never book a room.
Why This Opening Matters for Downtown LA
The Hotel Clark is not just another hotel. It is one of the longest-running “will it ever open” stories in downtown Los Angeles real estate, a building that survived eviction battles, ownership changes, and a decade of finished-but-empty limbo. Its return adds 348 rooms to a downtown submarket that has been starved for good hotel news, and it gives the Convention Center corridor a genuinely interesting place to stay.
It also lands in good company. If you are planning a luxury stay in the city, see our guide to the best luxury hotels in Los Angeles to compare options across neighborhoods.
There is a broader signal here too. Downtown Los Angeles spent the last few years absorbing bad headlines about empty offices and struggling retail. A 348-room hotel opening in a restored 1914 landmark, with a destination restaurant and a sports bar, is the kind of private investment that suggests the people closest to the market still believe in the neighborhood’s future.
It is also a reminder that downtown’s best assets were built a century ago. The glass towers get the renderings, but the buildings people photograph, the ones with cornices and marble and stories, are the prewar landmarks. The Clark sat empty for thirty years while the city grew up around it. Now it is back, and the timing, with a new restaurant, a new bar, and a skyline pool, feels less like nostalgia and more like a bet.
How to Book
Reservations are available now at hotelclark.com. Rates are reportedly starting at $207 per night. If you are visiting for a convention, a game, or just want to see the restored landmark while it is still new, book sooner rather than later. Soft-opening rates rarely last once the Hotel Clark Los Angeles reviews roll in.
A few booking notes: confirm your exact room type if space matters, since sizes vary within categories. If you are coming for the Votana grand opening on October 15, book the room and the restaurant separately, and do both early. Parking in the Convention Center corridor is plentiful but rarely cheap, so factor that into the nightly math. And if you are deciding between downtown hotels, the Clark’s current edge is simple: it is the only one that opened this month inside a 111-year-old landmark.
Discover more standout properties in our ranking of the best hotels in the world.
