CENTURY CITY, CA-New York-based Related has started demolition of the shuttered St. Regis hotel to make way for a 140-unit luxury condominium development called the Century, where the condos will range from 2,800 sf to 12,000 sf and will sell for $2.5 million to $25 million. Related says the demolition portion of the project will require about eight months.

Related's development, a 41-story residential condominium tower, will occupy a four-acre site on the Avenue of the Stars where the St. Regis once stood. The development site is adjacent to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.

Construction is slated to begin after the demolition is completed next year, with the development to be designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in collaboration with architect-of-record HKS Inc. Related expects to begin pre-sales in March next year and to complete construction in 2009.

Related bought the St. Regis from the Phoenix-based Pivotal Group for about $123 million. Pivotal had previously acquired the St. Regis, along with the adjacent Century Plaza property, for about $260 million in 1999.

Related notes that the construction project will maximize the recycling of existing building equipment and materials, including all steel, concrete, copper, and exterior skin panels. The company also will protect and temporarily store 164 old-growth trees from the site and then return them to the project during construction.

The Century condominiums will offer a level of luxury that will be remarkable even on the Westside of Los Angeles, where a number of upscale projects have been built over the years. Related describes its largest condo units as "estates of nearly 12,000 sf" and notes that the project will include "acres of gardens for the private use of the Century residents."