Deal reached to save landmark LA hotel

“I think we found an opportunity to do something unique and special on this site,’’ Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld’s group, Next Century Associates, along with the Los Angeles Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announced the agreement yesterday.

Next Century bought the 19-story hotel in 2008 and in 2009 announced a $2 billion plan to replace it with towers containing condos and shops. But preservation groups argued that the hotel’s history and architecture made the structure worth saving.

The Century Plaza Hotel was built at the core of Century City - a district of high-rises on the former site of a 20th Century Fox movie lot - and opened in 1966. It was designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, whose later work included New York City’s World Trade Center towers.

Besides the Apollo 11 party, the hotel hosted President-elect Ronald Reagan’s victory celebration and Bob Hope’s celebrity-studded Century Ball. Its popularity among Washington politicos on overnight trips earned it the nickname “West Coast White House.’’

The preservation deal was reached under the goading of City Councilman Paul Koretz. He had vowed to stymie the hotel’s destruction by having it declared a historic monument.