Sprawling boutique hotel, residences planned for Beverly Crest

The project is planned for a residential and would require numerous zoning exemptions

A rendering of a hotel bungalow at the Retreat at Benedict Canyon
A rendering of a hotel bungalow at the Retreat at Benedict Canyon

A 33-acre plot in Beverly Crest could become a sprawling boutique hotel and luxury residential subdivision. Because it would be situated in a residential neighborhood, it would also requires numerous zoning approvals and could lead to community opposition.

Developer Gary Safady of O&S Holdings filed plans for the large project earlier this month, a decade after buying the land, according to Curbed. Safady’s plans for the Retreat at Benedict Canyon call for a 99-key hotel and nine homes on one- to three-acre lots.

The hotel rooms would be single-unit bungalows, spread across the site. Nearly two-third of the acreage would be green space, according to a representative for Safady. South Africa-based Saota is the architect on the project. The firm has designed a number of modernist luxury hillside homes in Los Angeles, including in Trousdale and Bel Air.

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A rendering of Gary Safady’s Retreat at Benedict Canyon

The project would rise in a residential neighborhood just west of Franklin Canyon Park, near the end of one of Beverly Crest’s winding hillside roads. It requires a number of exemptions from local zoning rules, so it might move slowly through the city process, and may spur opposition from the neighbors.

If completed as planned, the project would be much different than anything O&S developed. The firm is inactive and sold its the last asset in its portfolio four years ago, according to a spokesperson for Safady. Its portfolio was mostly shopping centers in suburban California and around the South. It’s only residential asset was a 57-unit apartment building in Waco, Texas. Safady “has been involved in numerous development, including residential, commercial and hotel projects around the country,” outside of O&S, a spokesperson said, although he declined to name specific projects. [Curbed] — Dennis Lynch