Church of Scientology Buys Distressed Hollywood Hotel

The former home of the Mama Shelter hotel in Hollywood has traded out of distress to a well-known deep-pocketed player in the neighborhood.

An entity tied to the Church of Scientology purchased the 70-room lodging at 6500 Selma Avenue for $16 million, Bisnow reported.

At $229,000 per key, the hotel sold for less than the 2025 average for Los Angeles County, according to Atlas Hospitality Group data cited by Bisnow. Still, it sold for a higher per-room price than other recent distressed hotel sales, such as the 390-room Line Hotel in Koreatown, which sold out of foreclosure in July for $68 million, or roughly $174,000 per key.

Berkadia represented the seller and confirmed the transaction earlier this month without naming the buyer or disclosing pricing. The winning bidder, Building Management Services, is a nonprofit affiliate of the Church of Scientology that has been used for real estate acquisitions since the 1980s. The entity beat out 12 other offers for the property.

The Mama Shelter hotel shuttered in February 2025, a decade after it first opened its doors. The six-story hotel was placed in receivership the following month. The property owner, an LLC linked to Chicago-based GEM Realty Capital known as GRE Mama L.A. Owner, stopped making payments on a $13.3 million loan tied to the property in December 2024. The loan was originated in 2018 and was slated to mature in 2029; the outstanding balance prior to the receivership was roughly $14.4 million.

The Church of Scientology owns several properties in Hollywood. In 2023, the organization purchased a creative office at 4975 West Sunset Boulevard that was formerly a church. It also owns its Celebrity Centre at 5930 Franklin Avenue and two former office buildings on Hollywood Boulevard, per Bisnow. The church also owns an entire block in Hollywood bounded by Fountain and Catalina Avenues, L. Ron Hubbard Way and Sunset Boulevard.

— Chris Malone Méndez