LOS ANGELES-SRO Housing Trust has acquired the 97-year-old, 264-room Rosslyn Hotel in Downtown L.A. from the JHK Group for $12.1 million, Charles Dunn Co. reports. Eugene Page of Dunn's Los Angeles office, who represented the seller, describes the property at 112 W. 5th St. on Gallery Row as "a very special asset that has been sensitively maintained and managed, which needed to find the right buyer."

After several false starts with different would-be purchasers, SRO Housing, which had eyed the property since summer 2007, closed on the deal. “This was a very difficult deal considering the frozen financial markets and the state of governmental finances,” Page said. “It took someone with the heft and influence of SRO to put the extraordinarily complex financing together to get this deal done.”

Designed by architect John Parkinson, the building was situated amidst the cultural hub of Downtown L.A. through the early 1920s. Lore has it that the tunnel also provided a discreet exit, if needed, from the Rosslyn’s bar during Prohibition.

In addition to its 264 rooms, the Rosslyn includes retail space at street level, basement space that could be recaptured and a mezzanine that functioned as meeting rooms for the hotel, according to Page. Occupancy has been in the 90% range, he said.

The Rosslyn was built just after its sister hotel, now the Rosslyn Lofts, directly across Fifth Street. The two hotels formed a gateway to Los Angeles with their distinctive rooftop neon signs beckoning travelers as they approached the city from the east along what is now Fifth Street. The Rosslyn featured elegant shops, a restaurant and full barber/shaving facilities plus a tunnel under the street to its sister property so that services could be shared between them.

As the neighborhood declined, the property had effectively become bachelor unit housing and somewhat dangerous as 5th and Main became an illicit drug bazaar. In recent years, as crime has been curtailed, the Rosslyn has provided secure housing in the heart of the historic core to low income workers in local businesses, students and others.