GPI Companies gets $150M loan on Beverly Hills condos

Deutsche Bank provides latest funding for Santa Monica Boulevard development

GPI Companies’ Cliff Goldstein and Drew Planting; and Nahla Capital's Genghis Hadi (GPI Companies, Common Ground, Google Maps)
GPI Companies’ Cliff Goldstein and Drew Planting; and Nahla Capital's Genghis Hadi (GPI Companies, Common Ground, Google Maps)

GPI Companies and its private equity partner have scored a $150 million loan on a planned luxury condo project in Beverly Hills, The Real Deal has learned.

The Los Angeles-based firm got a loan on 9908 Santa Monica Boulevard — a 17-unit, four-story planned condo and commercial project, according to loan documents filed with Los Angeles County.

Deutsche Bank provided the variable rate financing to GPI and New York’s Nahla Capital, its private equity partner on the project. Neither GPI Companies nor Nahla Capital responded to a request for comment.

GPI bought five sites for the property for $35 million in 2014, records show. The site formerly housed the Friars Club — a private business club that was demolished in 2011.

The developer then got a $23.2 million loan from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance.

GPI has proposed to build a mix of two- to five-bedroom units, ranging from 3,000 square feet to almost 7,000 square feet in size, according to the most recent plans filed with the city of Beverly Hills in September. The development will also include 12,650 square feet of commercial space and a three-level underground parking garage.

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As part of an agreement with the city of Beverly Hills, the developers will pay $5 million to the city as a “public benefit contribution— $1 million was paid in 2020 when the agreement was signed and the rest will be paid in portions.

GPI Companies applied for permits for the project in October and has not yet received a building permit to start construction.

Loan documents from Deutsche Bank did not disclose whether the loan would be used for construction purposes.

In 2019, a Beverly Hills planning commission member, Andy Licht, said the development is located in “a sleepy part of town [that] needs some pizzazz.”
“There aren’t many options in Beverly Hills other than beautiful homes,” he said in a council meeting at the time. “This would be a great option.”

Beverly Hills is set to get a number of luxury condo projects in the near future. At 9200 Wilshire Boulevard, developer Michael Shvo is planning a Mandarin Oriental Residences with 54 units, where first residents are expected to move in in the second quarter. Prices for condos at that property are expected to start at $3.6 million. 

In June, the Beverly Hills City Council approved a $2 billion development proposed by Beny Alagem, which will see 300 more condos and a hotel rise on Wilshire Boulevard.