Developer Sammy Aflalo is preparing to move forward with three mixed-use builder’s remedy projects on the corner of Olympic and Beverly boulevards, including one at the Pavilions at 9467 W. Olympic Blvd. that may be sold under a proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons.
Aflalo filed preliminary applications for the projects at 9467, 9430 and 9441 W. Olympic Blvd. in March, and he plans to submit a full application including traffic and architectural plans early next week.
Aflalo has filed another preliminary application for an eight-story, 140-unit building at 353 S. Beverly Drive that would be part of the Pavilions development.
Amged, LLC, a company managed by real estate broker Michael Nourmand and attorney Omid Khorshidi, has filed a preliminary application for a builder’s remedy project at 8822-8826 W. Olympic Blvd., but developers did not respond to requests for comment.
Builder’s remedy projects in Beverly Hills have encountered frequent pushback from residents and the City Council, but Aflalo said he is hoping for less resistance given that his proposals are smaller in scope than similar projects, such as Leo Pustilnikov’s 19-story proposal at 125-129 S. Linden Drive that the council last month blocked from going forward.
“We’re replacing obsolete offices and a very old Pavilions with housing that the city needs, and a more modern grocery store,” Aflalo said. “I think Beverly Hills is probably going to understand that the development is going to happen, that we can work together on this and make a meaningful positive change for the community.”
According to the preliminary application for the Pavilions development, Aflalo plans to build an 8-story building with 110 units, 22 of which are designated as low income. Aflalo also plans to include rooftop amenities and floor-level amenities, including a new grocery store.
Those plans could be complicated by the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons, which owns Pavilions. That merger is being held up by a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission, which alleges that the merger would eliminate competition, thereby creating higher prices and lower-quality groceries for millions of Americans.
To resolve the lawsuit, Kroger plans to sell off some 579 stores and facilities, including the location at 9467 W. Olympic Blvd. and the West Hollywood Pavilions at 8969 Santa Monica Blvd., to C&S Wholesale Grocers. Aflalo said he had been in discussion with Albertsons to terminate the Olympic Boulevard lease early and build a new space, though that plan has been stalled by the proposed merger.
Aflalo said that he envisions the new store to be a “more modern” grocer than the old Pavilions.
According to an Albertsons representative, “The divestiture plan with C&S Wholesale Grocers ensures no stores will close as a result of the merger and that all frontline associates will remain employed. Furthermore, associates will also continue to receive the competitive wages and benefits that they do today, maintaining their pay, health, and wellness plans and all collective bargaining agreements where they are in place.”
Aflalo’s proposal at 9430 W. Olympic Blvd. would replace a three-story office building and includes nine low-income units, while the proposal at 9441 W. Olympic Blvd. would replace a two-story office building and include 13 low-income units, according to the preliminary applications. The former proposal includes 23 parking spaces while the latter includes 52, and both have rooftop and retail and amenities.
The proposal at 8822-8826 W. Olympic Blvd., meanwhile, would replace a single-story commercial building with a nine-story 30-unit mixed-use building.
Thomas A. White, chairman of the Municipal League of Beverly Hills, suggested that these proposals would not be spared the kind of pushback that has been seen against other builder’s remedy projects.
In an email to the Courier, White said that by ignoring the standards of the city’s Municipal Code, builder’s remedy projects enrich property developers at the expense of everyone else and strain Beverly Hills’ services and quality of life.
“At the rate we’re going, Beverly Hills will have many thousands more people, including those who can’t afford it, being compressed into the same finite living space, competing for the same limited city services, and from an aging, inadequate infrastructure,” White said. “That’s not a desirable or sustainable future.”
City spokesperson Lauren Santillana declined to comment, saying it was too early in the planning process.
