Three new schools would be constructed on the site of the historic Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, under a $318.2 million plan being promoted by district leaders.
The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District was scheduled to hold a meeting this week to discuss plans for the site, which has been owned by the district since 2001. Preservationists in the city have called for saving most of the hotel, a popular spot for entertainment figures and the place where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot in 1968.
Supported by Superintendent Roy Romer and Jose Huizar, the board president, the plan calls for building an 800-seat K-3 primary center, a 1,000-seat school for students in grades 4-8, and a 2,440-seat high school.
The schools would relieve overcrowding in the surrounding neighborhood; 3,800 children there are now bused to other parts of the district to attend school.
The plan would preserve some well-known parts of the hotel, including the Cocoanut Grove nightclub and the Embassy ballroom. But it would involve demolishing most of the six-story hotel building. A final vote on the project is scheduled for Oct. 12.
