The City Council on April 16 continued an appeal hearing on a “Builder’s Remedy” application to build a 19-story mixed-use development at 125-129 S. Linden Drive until May 21, following extensive opposition from neighbors.
On Oct. 13, 2023, staff determined the application was incomplete, and the applicant, 9300 Wilshire LLC, filed an appeal of that decision. staff has since scheduled two appeal hearings, and representatives for 9300 Wilshire LLC have each time requested the hearings be continued to a later date.
According to a staff report, the 19-story, 200-foot-tall proposal includes a commercial portion consisting of a 73-room hotel and restaurant located on the first through fifth floors, and a residential portion consisting of 165 apartment units from the sixth through 19th floors of the building. The units range from studios to two bedrooms, with 20% of the units reserved as lower-income rentals.
The proposal also includes a four-level subterranean parking structure that would be accessed from an alley abutting the rear of the property, providing parking for 126 vehicles. The project site consists of two vacant lots with a combined lot area of approximately 21,676 square feet located along the west side of the 100 block of South Linden Drive, according to the staff report.
Under the Builders Remedy law, developers can bypass local zoning laws if their project includes a certain number of affordable units and is proposed in cities that have failed to meet state housing goals.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development on March 18 indicated that it is ready to certify Beverly Hills’ Housing Element, after years of the city being noncompliant with state housing regulations. However, since this project was proposed when the city’s Housing Element had not been certified, it is still eligible to proceed under the Builder’s Remedy law.
In a written comment, Southwest Beverly Hills Homeowners Association President Ken Goldman said the association “remains very much opposed to this proposed overdevelopment, which will adversely affect our residential quality of life, traffic at the key intersection of Linden [Drive] and Wilshire [Boulevard], … traffic on Charleville [Boulevard] and Gregory [Way], … and many other aspects of our residents’ lives.”
