Plans have been submitted to build a remarkable $2bn mixed-use scheme on a five hectare site that includes the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria hotels in Los Angeles. The One Beverly Hill project, near the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, is being developed by LA-based Alagem Capital and London-based Cain International.
A masterplan by British architects Foster + Partners and detailed designs by Gensler feature a pair of residential towers surrounded by botanical gardens and green space. A raised platform would be constructed over the entire super-prime site, which has been largely vacant for some time, with a highway and 1,900 parking spaces beneath.
The new towers would rise 28 and 32 storeys, and house 303 new homes. Another 37 apartments would be delivered in a separate ten-storey hotel block. “One Beverly Hills represents the first full-service lifestyle residential opportunity to be built in the City in decades,” declares bumf. Alagem says that condos “can be expected to cost millions of dollars.” The developer “anticipates that some owners will be residents of other countries who want an additional home, but that most buyers will be domestic including Beverly Hills empty-nesters who want to leave their big homes but remain in the city.”
Alongside the resi towers, the project would deliver a new conference centre, a shopping mall with restaurants, a 46-room “ultra-luxury” hotel, and improvements to the existing Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria hotels.
Ten acres of open space in the masterplan includes a 3.5 acre private garden for residents and a 4.5 acre public botanic garden, both designed by local landscape architect Mark Rios.
Multiple developers have had a crack at the former Robinsons & May department store site in the last few years – spending a total of over $1bn since 2007 without a brick being laid. Beijing-based developer Dalian Wanda Group sold the land to Alagem and Cain for $445m in 2018. The site already has approved plans for a Richard-Meier-designed shopping centre.
California Governers Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis have already backed the new Foster-designed proposal. “One Beverly Hills is exactly what we need to help kick-start our economic recovery,” they said in a statement. “It provides thousands of new, well-paying jobs, and will bring both millions in short-term economic benefits and billions in long-term benefits to local government and our schools.”
Pending planning approval, construction is slated to start in 2021, with completion likely in 2024.
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