Beverly Hills Council Forces Builder’s Remedy Consideration

The Beverly Hills City Council is clearing the way for an updated builder’s remedy proposal on Wilshire Boulevard.

The city council granted an appeal from applicant Wilshire Skyline regarding its proposed 14-story building at 9229 Wilshire Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. City officials will now review updated plans for a taller development with more units, albeit with commercial portions removed.

The Beverly Hills Planning Commission approved the 14-story project last year, but Wilshire Skyline submitted a revised application for a larger development before an Oct. 29 Planning Commission hearing. The new plan calls for a 26-story building with 195 residential units and 252 parking spaces.

Wilshire Skyline pointed to the recent passage of SB 92, which prohibits the inclusion of hotel uses in density bonus projects such as its original proposal, as a looming legal hurdle that could jeopardize the hotel segment’s construction. Initial plans called for a 14-story structure with 116 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, including 24 affordable units, as well as a 60-room hotel, about 7,300 square feet of ground-floor retail and subterranean parking for 140 vehicles.

The Beverly Hills City Council adopted a motion to vacate the approval of the original 14-story plan and send the item back to the Planning Commission. City staff did so after acknowledging the applicant’s stated intent to not move forward with the original process. The commission will now have to process Wilshire Skyline’s revised application for the 26-story project.

Whether or not Wilshire Skyline moves forward using builder’s remedy, which allows developers to bypass local zoning and build high-density affordable housing projects to help municipalities reach state housing goals, remains to be seen, though housing is slated for the location regardless. Wilshire Skyline has already received approvals for a smaller eight-story development at the 9229 Wilshire Boulevard site, which would include 56 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units above 7,926 square feet of ground-floor retail and parking for 119 vehicles, Urbanize Los Angeles previously reported.

Another developer, Crescent Heights, had a builder’s remedy project rejected by the Beverly Hills Planning Commission in November. That proposal called for turning an empty lot at 8844 Burton Way into a 26-story building with 38 studio, two- and three-bedroom apartments with 22 units set aside for affordable housing.

— Chris Malone Méndez