It has been a year since Downtown's Ritz Milner Hotel closed to undergo a complete renovation. The entire building is enclosed in construction tarp and work from Shangri-La Construction continues to progress on-site.

The historic hotel, which was built in 1923, was acquired by Irvine-based Pacifica Hotels in 2016. Pacifica is converting the Ritz Milner into a Wayfarer property – a brand concept that combines traditional hotel rooms with dorm-style guest rooms and communal amenities. This marks the second Wayferer location for the company, following the successful launch of their first location in Santa Barbara.

Rockefeller Partners Architects is transforming the 12-story building's interior and restoring the exterior ground floor and façade. The previously existing 180 rooms will be re-divided into a mix of 156 private and shared rooms, but the exact ratio has not yet been revealed.

As reported by Los Angeles Downtown News, there will be several food and beverage programs open to the public including: 

  • A ground-floor cafe, 3,469 square-feet
  • A rooftop restaurant and bar, 3,825 square-feet 
  • A basement bar that doubles as a game room, 1,890 square-feet

The hotel is expected to reopen in early 2019, though an exact timeline for the project has not been announced.