Cathedral Conference Center Drawing Business Interest
By DEBORAH BELGUM
Staff Reporter
This week, the 200 or so members of the downtown Rotary Club will break a 43-year tradition at the Wilshire Grand Hotel and bring their weekly meeting to order at a new location: the just-completed conference center of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
In an unusual mix of church and business interests, the two-floor, 55,000-square-foot Center at Cathedral Plaza is being marketed for everything from weddings to corporate seminars.
With one major meeting room on the second floor, seven smaller meeting rooms on the first floor and 600 parking spaces underground, the conference center could become the first building block in the long-term goal of developing a cultural center in the north part of downtown.
“They are going to become an integral part of this community,” said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Central City Association of Los Angeles, a business advocacy group.
Besides the weekly Rotary functions, which this week is scheduled to include a speech by Cardinal Roger Mahony, 55 events have been booked for the conference center, according to Peggy Kelley, the cathedral’s director of hospitality and marketing.
They include an awards dinner by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. in October and a December dinner-dance for Rotary International. Celebrity chef Joachim Splichal and his Patina Group will cater all events. (The 600 place settings of off-white china have arrived just in time for the first gatherings this week.)
“There is a spiritual mission here, and there is a financial mission. And the financial mission supports the spiritual mission,” Kelley said.
The center, which won’t officially open until June, has been the source of considerable speculation and a few hints of discomfort within some in the downtown business community because it could take revenues away from nearby hotels already suffering because of the dropoff in corporate travel.
There also is the matter of holding a secular business event within the confines of the complex and just steps away from the 3,000-seat Roman Catholic cathedral itself, which is scheduled for completion in September.
But when asked about the new center, downtown business leaders and hoteliers expressed few concerns. “It’s one more reason for people to do business in downtown,” said Michael Collins, executive vice president of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Even John Stoddard, manager of the Wilshire Grand, said that while he was sad to see the Rotary Club move, he had been having a hard time making room for the group.
“We really didn’t make any money off the Rotary Club,” Stoddard said. “And our goal is to sell hotel rooms when we book meeting rooms. We weren’t doing that with the Rotary Club.”
The conference center at Temple and Hill streets is being touted as a convenient meeting location because of its proximity to the Hollywood Freeway and easy access from several points in the city.
“We were looking for a home that could accommodate us. A place where parking wouldn’t be burdensome and where getting in and out on meeting days wouldn’t be difficult,” said David Meshulam, president of the downtown Rotary Club. “This might give us an opportunity to attract more business members to the Rotary.”
Several prominent L.A. business leaders, including former mayor Richard Riordan, former Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, real estate tycoon Ed Roski and entertainment executive Roy Disney made sizeable personal contributions to the $163 million Cathedral complex. The project was launched by Mahony after the 1994 Northridge earthquake severely damaged St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, the archdiocese’s downtown L.A. headquarters.
Media and sports tycoon Rupert Murdoch contributed $10 million to be used specifically toward the conference center, situated at the south end of the 5.6-acre site. “This is a landmark site,” said Kelley. “People will come here for peace, education and art. It is for all.”
Asked if the conference center’s name might be changed if a large donation were made by someone, she said: “I don’t even want to go there.”
