Beverly Hills hotel trims down to leap obstacles: first new hotel in 20 years halved to allay size gripes.

Beverly Hills hotel trims down to leap obstacles

First new hotel in 20 years halved to allay size gripes 

The first new hotel to be built in Beverly Hills in more than two decades is expected to open in August, after nearly 10 years of planning and wrangling with city officials.

The hotel, known as the Peninsula Beverly Hills, will have 200 guest rooms and is a drastically scaled-down version of the one originally designed to be about twice as big as the one now under construction, said General Manager Bernard Jacoupy.

"Many changes had to be made because of concerns about the hotel's size by the city and neighborhood. People were concerned about the traffic it would generate," said Jacoupy.

Beverly Hills Planning Director Ruth Nadel said the city approved construction of the hotel after a series of hearings, which ended with the municipality granting a conditional use permit for the property.

"The plan was originally submitted a long time ago so I don't remember all the details but I can tell you that changes had to be made," said Nadel.

Including land acquisition, the project is costing the developer and owner, the Belvedere Partnership, about $100 million. By the time is opened, the hotel will have taken almost three and a half years to build.

The hotel, which will be operated by the Hong Kong-based Peninsula Group, will be the company's first property on the West Coast and second in the United States. Other Peninsula properties are located in New York, Hong Kong, Manila and Beijing.

In addition to Beverly Hills, the Peninsula Group is planning or constructing hotels in Bangkok and Thailand.

Located at 9882 Santa Monica Blvd., at the busy Wilshire Boulevard intersection, the hotel will feature a combination of standard guest rooms and suites in the three-story main building and individual villas in five, two-story structures.

Jacoupy said the luxury property will feature individually decorated rooms. The average guest room, he said, will be 575 square feet. Industrywide, the average guest room is 425 square feet, he said.

Villa rooms and suites will range from 580 to 2,250 square feet and will include such standard amenities as facsimile machines and individual security systems.

"One of the concerns of the neighborhood and of the city was to have the hotel look like a residential-style property and that is what we have done," said Jacoupy.

The exterior of the hotel will have a circular, landscaped driveway with a cast-stone fountain.

He said one feature that had to be drastically scaled back because of concerns about traffic volume was the property's conference and banquet room setup.

When the property is completed, the hotel will have several suites available for meetings and one large room that can accommodate up to 65 persons for a sit-down banquet and 125 for a stand-up reception.

Dining facilities will include a gourmet restaurant, a bar, a room for afternoon tea and a rooftop cafe next to the swimming pool. Health and fitness facilities will include a lap pool, weight room and outdoor whirlpool and sauna and steam rooms.

Twenty-four hour valet parking will be available on a lower level parking garage.

Introductory room rates will range from $265 to $295 a night and rates for villas and suites will range from $340 to $2,500.

Jacoupy said the property will be marketed mainly to traveling business executives.