A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge has ruled that Beverly Hills must process a proposed Builder's Remedy high-rise just south of Wilshire Boulevard.

The project in question, proposed by Leo Pustilnikov to replace a parking lot at 125 S. Linden Drive, calls for the construction of a 19-story, approximately 200-foot-tall building featuring 165 apartments  - 20 percent of which would be rented to lower income households - and a 73-room hotel.

At the time the project was submitted for approval in 2023, the City of Beverly Hills had yet to secure state certification for its 2021-2029 Housing Element. That Pustilnikov to take advantage of a once little-known provision of state law, the Builder's Remedy, which permits applicants to ignore certain zoning rules such as those relating to height and density until state certification is obtained - provided their projects provide at least 20 percent of the proposed residential units as affordable housing, or restrict the entire project to moderate-income households.

129 Linden DriveGoogle Maps

While Pustilnikov's initial application was filed at the time when Beverly Hills remained out of compliance, the City argued that Pustilnikov's addition of a hotel to the project after the initial submission voided its vesting rights under SB 330. That interpretation of the law conflicted with that of the State Housing and Community Development Department, the body tasked with reviewing the City's Housing Element, which issued a letter to Beverly Hills indicating that its continued rejection of the Linden Avenue project constituted a violation of the Housing Accountability Act.

The decision may have implications for similar projects in the works throughout Beverly Hills. While the City has recently considered incentivizing the applicants attached to 14 of the Builder's Remedy developments scale back their projects using the carrot of a ministerial approval process, that does not account for other applications which were rejected under similar situations to the Linden Avenue project. The Park La Brea News reports that Beverly Hills is facing six lawsuits regarding Builder's Remedy projects.

The lawsuit by Pustilnikov was consolidated with a separate case filed by Californians for Homeownership, a housing advocacy organization that also sought a court order compelling the City to approve the Linden Avenue project.. 

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