Louis Vuitton, is ramping up activity in the hospitality sector, eyeing three recently purchased properties on and around Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for the opening of a Cheval Blanc hotel.

In March 2018, LVMH bought a 6,200-square-foot empty retail space at 456 North Rodeo Drive for $110 million. Then, in September, the luxury powerhouse headed by billionaire Bernard Arnault purchased 468 North Rodeo Drive, the massive 22,250-square-foot, multistory building at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard that was previously occupied by Brooks Brothers, for $245 million from the trust of the family of Margaret J. Anderson, who built the pink stucco Beverly Hills Hotel. In November, LVMH scooped up the 26,523-square-foot Paley Center for Media museum behind the store, at 465 North Beverly Drive, from New York private real estate investment firm Jenel Management for $80 million. Together, the three contiguous parcels create more than 50,000 square feet of real estate on which to build, with frontage on Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Boulevard and Beverly Drive that could be connected into one hotel property.

The French luxury goods firm opened the first Cheval Blanc hotel in 2006, located in the ski resort of Courchevel in the French Alps. Three other hotels complete the roster: Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de Fran