Here’s a Ritzy Name in Design

The Long Beach firm that designed the lavish Phoenician Hotel for Arizona developer Charles H. Keating Jr. has been selected as architect for the $85-million Ritz-Carlton Irvine, which is scheduled to open in late 2001, catering to high-end business travelers.

Killingsworth, Stricker, Lindgren, Wilson & Associates also has built such high-profile properties as the Marriott Palm Desert and Convention Center and the Halekulani in Honolulu. “KSLW brings a resort design mentality to an urban hotel,” said Michael McCone, director of design for Park Place Hotel Co. LLC, the developer of Irvine’s Ritz-Carlton.

Those with long memories will recall another Irvine enterprise, Lincoln Savings & Loan, which Keating used to bankroll projects including the $296-million Phoenician in Scottsdale. The government later took over Keating’s empire, including Lincoln and the Phoenician, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $3 billion.

The Phoenician opened “with everyone marveling at the munificent investment of its owner, S&L; king Charles Keating,” hotel writer Andrew Harper recalls in his latest Hideaway Report, a travel tip sheet aimed at CEOs. “No one realized that his money was their money.”