Skid Row's St. George and Olympia Hotels Head Into Renovation Under New Owner

Two of Skid Row's oldest single-room-occupancy hotels are headed for renovation, with a joint venture led by developer Leo Pustilnikov filing applications with the city to overhaul the St. George Hotel and the Olympia Hotel — two of the 17 former Skid Row Housing Trust buildings he acquired out of receivership in 2024. The plans call for converting the St. George's 88 existing residential units into 69 efficiency homes, while the Olympia would retain its 46 existing affordable units.

The applications, filed by Hope for an Affordable LA, LP with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, mark the next chapter for a portfolio that once anchored one of the city's largest nonprofit efforts to house the formerly homeless. As reported by Urbanize Los Angeles, the St. George Hotel at 113 E. 3rd Street is a six-story building completed more than 120 years ago, while the Olympia Hotel at 1201 E. 7th Street is a three-story structure completed in 1993. Hope for an Affordable LA is a joint venture between Pustilnikov and San Fernando Valley-based nonprofit Hope the Mission.

A Portfolio Born From Collapse

The two hotels were part of a 29-building network that Skid Row Housing Trust managed before the nonprofit collapsed in 2023, at a time when it housed roughly 1,200 formerly homeless tenants. The trust's financial unraveling pushed it into a city-initiated public health and safety receivership in March 2023, according to Courthouse News, which also reported that initial receiver Mark Adams was replaced by Kevin Singer of Receivership Specialists just three months later, following reports of wrongful eviction notices and overbilling.

To keep the buildings running through that turmoil, the Los Angeles City Council authorized the Los Angeles Housing Department to lend up to $12 million in emergency funds to the receiver for essential operations, security, and structural repairs across the trust's sites, including the St. George and Olympia hotels, per city records from the Los Angeles City Clerk. That public backstop bought time for a private buyer to emerge.

The Sale That Ended Receivership

That buyer turned out to be Pustilnikov, who led the partnership that purchased much of the trust's downtown portfolio in 2024. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Goorvitch approved his acquisition of 17 of the trust's buildings for $19 million that August, structured with a $9 million repair rebate that brought the net purchase price down to roughly $10 million — about $8,333 per unit — according to The Real Deal. A separate $2.1 million sale of the New Genesis building to KE Ventures, approved the same month, completed the full transfer of all 29 trust properties out of receivership.

Pustilnikov was already a familiar name in downtown's low-income housing scene. His existing portfolio includes the historic 1906 Alexandria Hotel, which houses 463 low-income units, and the 300-unit Rosslyn Lofts building near Skid Row, the Los Angeles Times has reported. Elsewhere in the city, he is also known for pursuing builder's remedy projects aimed at reshaping the Beverly Hills skyline, per Urbanize Los Angeles.

Hope the Mission's Shifting Role

Although Pustilnikov structured the 17-building deal as a joint venture with Hope the Mission under the Hope for an Affordable LA banner, the nonprofit paused its plan to directly oversee social services across the portfolio in July 2024, citing the complexity and timing of the transaction. That decision, reported by the Times, allowed the existing social service providers already working in the buildings to remain in place rather than transition to a new operator.

The arrangement hasn't stopped the two parties from collaborating elsewhere downtown. Pustilnikov and Hope the Mission also partnered on the reopening of the historic Original Pantry Café, which the developer acquired for $5.5 million in 2025 and turned into a philanthropic restaurant funding shelter operations. Hope the Mission itself has grown considerably since its founding in Sun Valley in 2009 as Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, now operating more than 15 shelter facilities that house over 1,400 unhoused residents nightly across Southern California.

Why the Stakes Remain High

The renovation filings land amid persistent regional pressure on housing for the unhoused. Citywide homelessness in Los Angeles reached 45,194 individuals according to 2024 point-in-time count estimates, with unsheltered homelessness rising 7.9% year-over-year, the Los Angeles Daily News has reported. That backdrop leaves open questions about how private developer management of aging SRO buildings — where a longtime nonprofit model ultimately failed — will hold up over time, and how the St. George's reduction from 88 units to 69 will affect current residents as the applications move through city review.