LOS ANGELES — A $100-million boutique condominium complex rising in the vaunted Golden Triangle district of Beverly Hills is escalating Southern California's luxury vertical-living rivalry with a potential five-star restaurant, private pools and the kind of pampering that might lure elite downsizers from their sprawling estates.
The swanky 17-unit building where a home could sell for more than $40 million — a price not yet seen in the region's condo market — will be managed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a Hong Kong hospitality company known for operating luxurious residential-style hotels, developers said Tuesday.
The announcement of Rosewood Residences Beverly Hills comes as top-echelon condominiums are hitting new peaks in Los Angeles County with potential to top the record price of $35 million set in 2010 by Candy Spelling, widow of producer Aaron Spelling, when she bought a penthouse in Century City. At the new 8899 Beverly luxury building in West Hollywood, owners want $50 million for a penthouse.
Rosewood Residences is under construction at 9900 S. Santa Monica Blvd. on a site last occupied by the Friars Club, a legendary private club started in 1947 by comedian Milton Berle and other show biz luminaries of the postwar era, including Ronald Reagan. The Friars building was demolished in 2011.
The site is adjacent to the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel and across Santa Monica from the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotels. Planned next to the Waldorf and Hilton is One Beverly Hills, a $2-billion garden complex with more than 300 condos and a boutique Aman hotel and residences. Hundreds more upscale condos were recently completed in nearby Century City.
Rosewood Residences, set to open in 2024, will be at "the center of this new burgeoning corridor that is going to be the future of residential real estate" around Beverly Hills, developer Genghis Hadi of Nahla Capital said. "This site is irreplaceable."
The developers hope to command $4,000 per square foot for units, which would put it at the top end of the market.
Last month a penthouse at the Pendry Residences West Hollywood changed hands for $21.5 million, or $3,412 a foot, in the priciest condo sale of the year so far. Two other units at the Pendry sold for well more than $4,000 a foot last year.
The market for such high-priced housing is so rarified that it's hard to analyze statistically, said economist Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
"It's almost like watches and art," Green said. "They clearly have value to a small number of people who are all bidding against each other, but beyond that it's hard to explain why they're worth what they're worth."
Rosewood Residences will be laden with features intended to make it stand out in the premium market, Hadi said, starting with unit size. The average residence will be 4,100 square feet, easily larger than a typical house in the Los Angeles area but perhaps smaller than the homes that buyers may be leaving.
"We're focusing on the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles homeowners who are moving out of large homes and need a lot of the amenities that a large home gives them but want the security and safety of a residential building," he said, where there is a doorman, valet parking and people to take care of landscaping, pool maintenance and other tasks.
Kitchens will have double islands, a prominent feature in houses in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, he said. "One for practical cooking and one for entertaining."
Each residence will also have private elevator access, a large entry foyer, outdoor living areas and a mudroom/laundry room reached by a discrete service elevator. Six of the units will have private pools on their terraces and some will have fully equipped outdoor kitchens, wet bars and fire pits.
There will also be a shared rooftop pool, fitness center and outdoor relaxation area with spaces for dining.
The largest unit at 7,300 square feet will include two interior fireplaces, a butler's pantry and an expansive entertaining great room with a full bar. Outside will be a private pool with a full kitchen on a 2,500-square-foot terrace.
The developers hope it will sell for about $40 million, or more than $5,000 per square foot of interior space.
The building and interiors were designed by Thomas Juul-Hansen, a Danish architect known for designing some of the priciest apartments in New York.
Included in the building will be an intimate restaurant open to the public, that will also serve residents in their homes or at the rooftop private lounge on request, Hadi said. He hopes the restaurant will be worthy of top industry rankings for fine dining.
It will be the first stand-alone condo development in California operated by Rosewood, which also has stand-alone residential projects in the pipeline for Florida and Phuket, Thailand.
The nearest hotel in the Rosewood chain is Rosewood Miramar Beach near Santa Barbara, where guests have been known to stay for weeks at a time even though typical daily rates start at $2,000.
"Our guests would actually ask us, 'Why don't you build residences? I want to live in one of your properties,'" said Radha Arora, president of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.
In Beverly Hills, Rosewood will bring in experienced personnel to provide services, including a team of butlers "to make sure every need is met" for homeowners, "like having a house manager at home when you have a large estate."
Tasks might include bringing in a private chef for a party or arranging care of a resident's private jet — "all the things an affluent client of Rosewood would expect," Arora said.
Nahla Capital, based in New York, is developing the property with GPI Cos. of Los Angeles. Units are set to go on sale next year through Compass Development Marketing Group.
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