LVMH, the Paris-based luxury goods conglomerate, has reportedly acquired for US$200 million the former 86-key Luxe hotel on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California, from owner Efram Harkham and family. That would put the deal at an astounding US$2.3 million per key. The 42,560-square-foot (4000m2) property additionally consists of three high-end retail storefronts. It is not yet clear what LVMH’s plans are for the space, especially considering it acquired in 2018 for US$245 million a property a block away on Rodeo Drive with plans to build a Cheval Blanc hotel.

Opened in 1962 as the Beverly Rodeo Hotel, it was designed by noted mid-century modern architect William Krisel. Its Cafe Rodeo quickly became one of the most popular and glamorous restaurants in the city. The hotel was part of Hyatt Hotels for a time in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was known as the Beverly Rodeo Hyatt House.  In 1995 it was sold to Harkham who renamed it the Summit Hotel Rodeo Drive and after renovations in 2000 the Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel, part of Luxe Hotels, a chain of three hotels in Los Angeles County. The hotel permanently closed in September 2020, due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.