By Roger Vincent | Staff Writer | Oct. 11, 2024 3 AM PT

Construction is underway on a $300-million hotel next to SoFi Stadium, the latest addition to Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s sprawling mixed-use development on the former site of the Hollywood Park horse racing venue in Inglewood.

The 300-room Kali Hotel is the only hotel in Kroenke’s master plan for Hollywood Park, and developers hope it will be a favored place to stay for visiting football teams and basketball teams, as well as fans who come to see them play.

It is being erected by real estate developer Kali P. Chaudhuri, whose company KPC Development Co. owns and builds commercial properties in California and India. It will be the company’s first hotel in the United States.

The hotel will rise 12 stories on Stadium Drive, across a man-made lake from the 70,000-seat stadium, which is home to L.A.’s two NFL teams, the Rams and Chargers. It will be near to the YouTube Theater and within walking distance of the Intuit Dome, the recently opened home of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Kia Forum, which are not part of the SoFi development project.

Known officially as the Kali Hotel and Rooftop, Autograph Collection, it will join Marriott’s Autograph Collection, which allows owners to customize their hotels while remaining affiliated with the chain.

The hotel’s 34 suites, which are intended to appeal to sports and entertainment VIPs, will be as large as 1,200 square feet, with some having oversized features such as shower heads mounted 11 feet high.

“It would be an ideal spot for any visiting basketball teams to the Clippers arena, and obviously for SoFi Stadium,” said John Petty, head of development and construction for KPC. “We do anticipate sports teams staying at the hotel.”

Kroenke controls nearly 300 acres surrounding SoFi Stadium on land formerly occupied by the horse racing venue. When the complex is completed, it will be 3 ½ times the size of Disneyland, making it the largest urban mixed-use development under construction in the Western U.S., according to Kroenke’s organization. Plans encompass offices, residences, shops, restaurants and public parks.

The hotel’s grounds will include a well-known feature from the original racetrack, the life-size bronze sculpture of jockey Bill Shoemaker riding famed racehorse Swaps at full gallop that greeted bettors for decades. Swaps and Shoemaker won the 1955 Kentucky Derby, and the thoroughbred also captured the Hollywood Gold Cup, Hollywood Park’s signature race. The sculpture has been in storage for years.

Another element the developers hope will stand out at the hotel will be its rooftop bar and restaurant with views of the stadium, Intuit Dome and the steady stream of airplanes on their final approach to LAX. It’s between two flight paths and will be visible from the air, Petty said. “Our 12th floor will really stand out to anyone landing at LAX.”

The hotel will have three restaurants, a pool and yoga deck, spa, fitness center, ballroom and spaces for meetings.

The scale and cost of the hotel is a reflection of how the neighborhood has evolved, hotel consultant Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality said.

“Five or 10 years ago I would have said Inglewood is a tough spot” for a luxury boutique hotel, he said. But, “there’s a big a positive effect of having a sports team stadium” that can help drive business through games, concerts and other events.

Completion of the hotel is set for spring 2026, and the owners expect it to serve people attending three major events at SoFi Stadium: the FIFA World Cup in 2026, the Super Bowl in 2027 and the Olympic Games in 2028.

The Kali Hotel was designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative and will be constructed by Clayco.

“Although this will be our first hotel, we’re already planning to build many more,” Chaudhuri said.

KPC is leasing the land for the hotel from Kroenke under a long-term agreement and went through a competitive process to get the nod from the landlord to be the hotelier for Hollywood Park.

“We went through a lot of wringers, but we succeeded,” Chaudhuri said. “We’re fortunate they chose us.”

A groundbreaking ceremony is set for Oct. 22.

Among KPC’s other developments are hospitals in Riverside and Orange counties, and a 300,000-square-foot office campus in Corona, where the company is based. It’s built a nursing college and 1,000-bed hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. KPC is also building two residential projects in Kolkata including a 74-story skyscraper, the company said.