Beverly Hills Gives OK to Hotel

Beverly Hills officials have approved what would be the city’s first new hotel in more than a decade. The developer of the Hotel Bel Jardin--as it’s being called until an operator is selected--expects to break ground by early next year.

Steven Crowe, who heads Santa Monica-based Hotel Development Group, hopes to secure financing within a few months for the 133-room hotel along the south side of Wilshire Boulevard between Maple and Palm drives. Crowe and his local partners plan to develop the hotel on a portion of the former Hillcrest Motors site just east of the city’s core commercial triangle.

Crowe, who is in discussions with various luxury hotel operators, said the eventual flag will help determine whether the Bel Jardin would be a five-star or 4 1/2-star property. The proposed four-story building over a two-level underground parking garage would cost about $47 million.

Given that business and tourist travel were subsiding even before Sept. 11, financing for new hotels remains “very difficult to come by,” said Jordan Richman, a hotel property specialist at real estate services company Grubb & Ellis. However, considering the historical popularity of Beverly Hills as a travel destination--and the difficulty developing new hotels there--several lenders and investors would probably consider funding the Bel Jardin, Richman said.

Crowe’s development team includes architect Gin Wong Associates, which designed the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel. W.E. O’Neil Construction, now working on a city-sponsored retail development, is the general contractor. Melendrez Design Partners is the landscape architect, and former Beverly Hills Mayor Joseph Tilem is the group’s land-use counsel.

Crowe said the project would be similar in style to the 196-room, five-star Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills, the city’s newest hotel, completed in 1991. The Bel Jardin would include a restaurant within a focal interior courtyard, as well as a rooftop health club and swimming pool.