Meet Max Netty, developer behind new builder’s remedy proposal in Beverly Hills

In November, a developer named Max Netty filed an application to build what would be the tallest building in Beverly Hills, if completed. The 17-story tower would rise on Rodeo Drive, just south of Wilshire Boulevard. 

Netty’s firm, Soundview Investment Partners, submitted the proposal through a legal loophole known as builder’s remedy. For cities that fail to meet a deadline to draw up a state-approved housing plan, developers can bypass local zoning entirely, as long as the projects meet certain affordability thresholds. 

Given the city of Beverly Hills failed to secure the state’s seal of approval on its housing plan by October 2022, it opened itself up to builder’s remedy. 

Netty, who also goes by Masoud, took advantage. 

“We’re doing what we need to do to fill the need for that kind of housing,” Netty said in a phone interview. 

He had heard about builder’s remedy before and saw an opportunity. Netty’s filing comes six months after Leo Pustilnikov, another developer, hit Beverly Hills with a barrage of builder’s remedy projects. If completed, those projects would add up to 1,200 units — about 15 percent of the city’s current apartment stock. 

In a text, Pustilnikov said he doesn’t know Netty, but in September, he said he would welcome more developers trying builder’s remedy. 

Netty, whose firm is based in Century City, has owned a hodge-podge of commercial property across Los Angeles County since the 1990s. However, the builder’s remedy sets the stage for both a fight with the city and a move into the spotlight as the developer behind one of the largest projects in Beverly Hills.

Residential starts

Netty started off his real estate career in housing. 

In February 1992, he bought an eight-unit apartment complex in Brentwood, records show. He flipped it less than a year later, though the sales price is unclear. 

The same year, Netty was arrested on one federal charge involving making a false statement to a lending institution, according to court records, which also disclosed he held an Iranian passport. The charge was dismissed a few months later — Netty was let off with a $250 fine and three years of supervised release. 

He didn’t let the charge disrupt his real estate career. 

In 2001, Netty bought 145 South Rodeo Drive, home to a small office building, the site where he would eventually file a builder’s remedy project. 

By 2005, he had formed Soundview Investment Partners, which he now says owns a “large” portfolio of commercial properties all over Los Angeles, from Encino to Santa Monica. 

Netty’s firm owns 1314 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, formerly the NuWilshire Theatre, now an office property. That property is one of Netty’s longest holds along with the Rodeo Drive site — he bought the building in 2001 and refinanced it with a $6 million loan in 2021, records show. 

Soundview has developed two commercial buildings in Encino at 16206 and 16218 West Ventura Boulevard — two sites he has owned since the late 1990s. 

Not everything has been a long-term hold for Netty. In 2017, a limited liability company tied to him sold three parcels on the corner of Kester Avenue and Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks for $6.6 million, records show, after holding onto the sites for three years. 

Big play

If finished, the Rodeo Drive tower would seemingly qualify as Netty’s largest project to date. 

He has proposed to build a mixed-use tower with 56 residential units. 

A project only qualifies for the builder’s remedy provision as long as it meets certain affordable housing thresholds — either 20 percent of the units must be affordable for low-income earners or all of them must cater to moderate-income households. 

For builder’s remedy to apply, developers only need to submit a preliminary housing application, meaning there are no real details yet about what Netty’s project will look like. 

But Netty is hoping there won’t be too much animosity over the proposal, which would be the first housing project on Rodeo Drive, albeit south of the famous shopping strip. 

“We wanted it to be a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.