Hotel Per La, the luxury boutique hotel occupying Downtown Los Angeles’ historic Giannini Building, has been sold for $34 million to technology entrepreneur and real estate investor Daniel Negari.

The transaction gives Negari ownership of the 241-room hotel at the corner of Seventh and Olive streets for approximately $140,000 per room—a comparatively low price for an upscale property that underwent an extensive and costly transformation less than a decade ago. Negari also acquired the hotel’s furnishings and other contents, including its wine collection. With those assets and related expenses included, his total investment is reportedly closer to $40 million. Bank of America provided $25 million in financing for the acquisition.

The seller was Waterfall Asset Management, which took control of the property as a lender after its previous owner defaulted on more than $100 million in debt. At the time of the sale, approximately $134 million in unpaid debt was connected to the property, making the $34 million purchase another striking example of the losses being absorbed throughout Downtown’s distressed commercial real estate market.

Long before tourists were checking into the building, it served as the Los Angeles headquarters of Amadeo Pietro Giannini’s Bank of Italy, the institution that later became Bank of America. Designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements and completed in 1922, the 12-story Giannini Building was decorated with marble floors, Doric columns, bronze doors surrounded by coin motifs and an elaborate gold-and-blue Italianate ceiling.

After the bank moved out, the building sat vacant for nearly two decades. Its first major rebirth began after Sydell Group purchased it for $39 million in 2016, with financial backing connected to billionaire investor Ron Burkle. Killefer Flammang Architects led the adaptive-reuse work, while French architect and interior designer Jacques Garcia shaped the hotel’s elaborate European appearance.

The 18-month reconstruction converted the former offices and banking chambers into guest rooms, restaurants, bars and gathering spaces while preserving many of the building’s most valuable architectural details. The grand banking hall became an opulent public dining and drinking space. Offices became bedrooms and suites filled with custom furniture, velvet fabrics, patterned walls, freestanding bathtubs and original artwork. A swimming pool, restaurant and bar were installed on the roof, creating an elevated retreat above Seventh Street.

The restored building opened in January 2018 as NoMad Los Angeles, the West Coast version of the celebrated NoMad hotel in New York. Its restaurants and bars were initially operated by chef Daniel Humm and restaurateur Will Guidara, then associated with the Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park. The hotel quickly became known for its luxurious interiors and dramatic lobby, but its first life was short. NoMad Los Angeles closed during the pandemic and never reopened under that name.

In 2022, HN Capital Partners joined the existing ownership and worked with Sage Hospitality Group to reopen and rebrand the property. The new Hotel Per La retained much of NoMad’s expensive reconstruction, furniture and Jacques Garcia-designed atmosphere. The new operators refreshed the property, introduced different food and beverage concepts and changed the hotel’s identity without erasing the design that made the original conversion notable.

The name Per La—Italian for “for the”—was presented as a reference to the building’s Italian banking history and Giannini’s commitment to serving ordinary depositors. The rebranded hotel opened with 241 rooms, approximately 10,000 square feet of event space, Ristorante Per L’Ora, Café Ora, rooftop Bar Clara and the rooftop swimming pool. It later joined Marriott’s Autograph Collection, giving the independently styled property access to Marriott’s international reservation and loyalty system.

Negari, founder and CEO of domain registry company XYZ, is best known for launching the “.xyz” internet extension. The extension gained international recognition after Google’s parent company, Alphabet, selected abc.xyz as its corporate website. Negari has since expanded into Southern California real estate, purchasing hotels in West Hollywood, office towers in San Diego and commercial properties in Santa Monica.

The sale generated more than $2 million in transfer taxes, including the tax imposed through Measure ULA on high-value Los Angeles real estate transactions. Negari has also signed a new 20-year agreement with Marriott, indicating that the property will remain part of the Autograph Collection. However, an agreement with Marriott does not necessarily require the owner to retain the Hotel Per La name, and no new name has been announced.

First it was the Bank of Italy. Then it became the NoMad Los Angeles. After the pandemic, it returned as Hotel Per La. Now, with another owner holding the keys to one of Downtown’s most lavishly rebuilt landmarks, the next question is: What will they call it?