At its Dec. 3 Regular Meeting, the Beverly Hills City Council voted to amend an existing covenant to remove the provision prohibiting additional medical use floor area in the commercial building located at 9150 Wilshire Blvd.
The amended covenant would increase the amount of medical floor area allowed at 9150 Wilshire Blvd. from 5,000 square feet to 11,000 square feet.
Assistant Director of Community Development Masa Alkire stated that the removal of this restriction would allow for a more consistent treatment of the considered commercial building with other office buildings in Beverly Hills by allowing the owner of that property to convert the floor area to medical use consistent with the 2022 Medical Conversion Ordinance requirements. The ordinance was originally passed as an urgency ordinance in 2020 when there was a heightened need for medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The provisions of the 2022 ordinance allow for existing office space above the first floor in a commercial building to be converted to medical use.
Staff recommended the city approve the proposed covenant amendment and authorize City Manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey to execute the drafting of the revised covenant.
The applicant, Dr. Armand Newman, is the owner of the 9150 Wilshire Blvd. building. His attorney and son, Aaron Newman, spoke about his father’s desire to allow for medical use on the first, second and third floors of his building, stating that the current tenant on the first floor is signaling vacancy. He argued that if his father’s building is unable to give the first-floor space to a medical user once the current tenant vacates, that space will sit empty and lead to a loss of revenue for Dr. Newman and the city.
Removing the prohibition of medical use on the first floor was not what was proposed in the amended covenant, yet Newman argued that his father’s building uses a “European-style” of naming floors, stating that there is no way to access the first floor of the building directly from the ground. The city responded that how Dr. Newman wishes to apply medical use in his building would have to be referred back to the Planning Commission, and that what is considered “ground floor” is not what is being considered in this public hearing.
The 9150 Wilshire Blvd. building is seven stories tall, consisting of three floors of office space, and three stories of subterranean parking below the ground floor lobby.
Councilmember Craig Corman expressed his concern that increased medical use could push out general office use in the building, which could lead to lower business tax revenues from commercial areas. He suggested that the City Council revisit potential code tweaks in the definition of types of medical uses they would allow in a Medical Conversion Ordinance application considering what would be financially beneficial to the city.
The City Council unanimously voted to approve the staff recommendation as written to allow for expanded medical use at 9150 Wilshire Blvd.
Additionally, the City Council voted to approve several items that were discussed during public hearing at previous meetings, including amendments to the Beverly Hills Municipal Code on regulations for emergency shelters, the process for determining disruptive tenants and the elimination of the Rent Stabilization Commission.
Finally, Councilmember Mary Wells, Councilmember John Mirisch, and Mayor Lester Friedman congratulated Beverly Hills resident and newly-elected Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who was sworn in by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Dec. 3 outside the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles.
