When City Planning Fails: Taking a Single Hotel Development to the Ballot

[Updated 11/10/2016] In a case that truly exemplifies the crisis of city planning in the Los Angeles area, Beverly Hills residents will vote next week on Measure HH to determine the future of just one development: the Waldorf Astoria on the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards. 

Beny Alagem, the project’s owner—as well as the owner of the Beverly Hilton Hotel— spoke in-depth with The Planning Report to discuss his vision for the hotel, which he has designed to stay ahead of the market and on the cutting edge of sustainability. Measure HH seeks to approve an amendment to the originally approved plan for the Waldorf Astoria, raising the height of the building but adding a 1.7-acre park to serve as a communal open space.

The reason why Alagem decided to take the revised decision straight to the ballot was clear to him: after 19 public hearings to get his original plan to redevelop the Waldorf Astoria in 2008, detractors forced him to the ballot anyways. This time, Alagem and his team thought it was quicker to just go directly to voters.

Alagem lamented the lack of leadership of Beverly Hills politicians in the planning process, stating:

“When there is no leadership, no cohesiveness, and lots of division, politicians are basically not performing their job of creating an outline and a clear vision for the city. Then private enterprises, developers, and entrepreneurs explore their own visions.”

The revised plan, to be voted on in Measure HH, will increase the height from 18 stories to an 26 stories and eliminate the building of an eight-story building. The space of the eight-story building will become the 1.7-acre park adjacent to the hotel. Alagem talked about the impact on the streetscape, as he explained: “if you don’t like a height of 26 stories, you won’t like 18 stories, either. But we’re offering a park in exchange for that height difference. You cannot tell the difference between 18 and 26 stories when you are on the ground. But a 1.7-acre park will be noticeable.”

No matter what the outcome of Measure HH, November 8th will a telling day for the 90210.

[Correction: Alagem also owns the Beverly Hilton Hotel, not the Beverly Hills Hotel.]