Cain secures $2B for One Beverly Hills megaproject

Cain International has scored a $2 billion financing package led by JP Morgan for a 17.5-acre luxury megaproject now under construction in Beverly Hills.

The London-based developer, which is the majority partner in the deal, landed the loans for their One Beverly Hills project at 9850, 9876, 9900 and 9988 Wilshire Boulevard, Bloomberg reported.

The $2 billion project, approved in 2021 for a triangular site between Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards next to the Los Angeles Country Club, will link the Waldorf Astoria and a restored Beverly Hilton hotel with the first Aman luxury hotel on the West Coast.

The site, once occupied by a Robinsons-May department store and a gas station, will contain up to 200 luxury condominiums across two towers of up to 32 stories, surrounded by eight acres of botanical gardens and water features. It will also contain a retail pavilion and conference center.

The Switzerland-based Aman will operate the 10-story, 42-room hotel and 37-unit hotel-branded condo complex, a 100,000-square-foot private club, spa and restaurant, plus Aman-branded condos next to the Beverly Hilton.

Other partners in the project include Alagem Capital Group, Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, based in Greenwich, Conn., and Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group, based in Miami.

The financing deal was led by a $500 million senior loan from New York-based JP Morgan, according to Bloomberg. The remaining lenders behind $1.5 billion in loans were not disclosed.

The new loans replace and supplement $500 million secured in 2021 from Aareal Capital and Goldman Sachs Group, both based in New York.

The deal comes as many banks have stepped back from commercial real estate, with higher interest rates and construction costs raising the risk of loan defaults, and reduced profitability for lenders.

“We’re hopeful we’ve gotten through the worst of the rate rises and that we’ll see rates going our way during the course of this project,” Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of Cain International, told Bloomberg. “It’s best to keep the momentum going on a site that’s unique like this.” 

The money will help pay the cost of renovations at the Beverly Hilton, owned by Cain, Eldridge and Alagem. The hotel, which opened in 1955, hosts such events as the Milken Institute’s annual global conference and the Golden Globe Awards.

A groundbreaking ceremony for One Beverly Hills was held last month, nearly two decades after developers first envisioned the luxury project. 

The land passed through a series of owners, including Christian and Nick Candy, Carlos Slim and Dalian Wanda Group, before the current partners bought the site in 2018 for $445 million.

— Dana Bartholomew

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