FAQs

The 9600 Wilshire project builds on Saks’ 86-year history in Beverly Hills to ensure that the store and Wilshire Boulevard remain as relevant as ever. It is the redevelopment of four underutilized blocks into a vibrant development anchored by a rehabilitated historic Saks Women’s building. Created through the combination of boutique hotel, club, spa; residential; flagship retail, neighborhood shops, and limited professional office – all at the right scale and grounded in meticulously designed public and private spaces.

The original 1930s vintage Saks Fifth Avenue building was showing its age. When Barneys went out of business and closed, we saw a rare opportunity to relocate the store to an adjacent property and restore its former home without disrupting operations in one of our most important markets.

Saks Fifth Avenue has always been an innovative, experiential retailer with a deep understanding of market demand and the needs of our customers. We believe that curated mixed-use development is the most powerful and sustainable format. Starting with new residential apartments to create a buffer between Wilshire and the existing apartment buildings and single-family homes in Southwest community, we have proposed commercial uses along Wilshire that complement Saks Fifth Avenue, are in keeping with the City’s general plan and meet Beverly Hills’ high standards.

Mixed-use development, tied together by compelling public place making, is a holistic planning approach thousands of years old. It creates intimate outdoor spaces that are more authentic, resilient, active, and enduring than any single-use. The residential buildings in the neighborhood district create a permanent buffer and transition from busy Wilshire Boulevard to the existing adjacent apartment buildings and single-family residences beyond. The privately managed environment and additional residents present 24/7 will enhance the safety and security in the area.

Wilshire Boulevard has historical significance in the development of Beverly Hills and the broader region. Today, Department Store Row struggles with vacant lots and buildings due to generational market forces. What made this area so successful still exists – proximity to Rodeo Drive and the Golden Triangle, adjacency to the wonderful Southwest neighborhood, and Saks Fifth Avenue as an anchor. It is a very walkable and accessible area where people want to live, visit, and work.

We are immensely proud of our building’s architectural history. In fact, maintaining its historic façade is a defining effort of our project.

We propose to rehabilitate the building in strict accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings. Rehabilitation is a highly regulated and very costly endeavor, but we consider the work of Parkinson & Parkinson and Paul R. Williams to be the heart of this project, and we are committed to honoring the building and its legacy.

We will adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s strict guidelines. These parameters play a crucial role in ensuring proper care for historic assets. We are proud that our work to date has gained the support of the LA Conservancy, and they have submitted a letter on behalf of the project in support of the proposal.

Complete Streets is an approach methodology to designing public streets that provides enhanced design focused on balanced and safe use for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders alike. Beverly Hills adopted it in April 2021.

The 9600 Wilshire project is coordinating with the City of Beverly Hills to make sure that the planned improvements respond to these principles.

Peck’s Complete Street elements within our project include:

• Enhanced tree planting and landscaping to provide shade and separate vehicles and pedestrians
• Widened sidewalks
• Cobblestone-like street paving that will calm traffic but still be acceptable to bicycles
• Raised crosswalk for safer pedestrian crossings
• Bicycle parking
• Street furniture
• Seating areas
• Improved street lighting for visibility and safety

Sustainable practices are a core component of our design philosophy. The project will include both active and passive water conservation strategies including the collection and reuse of greywater, water-efficient appliances, and drip irrigation. Our proposed landscape design incorporates drought-resistant plantings in all public areas. We chose these native plantings for their beauty and their ability to thrive in arid conditions.

The City of Beverly Hills has signed a pledge to be carbon neutral by 2045. HBC is similarly committed to sustainability, and we share this goal with Beverly Hills.

Most importantly, the adaptive reuse of the former Saks Women’s Building is the most sustainable form of development. Additionally, we are focused on numerous sustainability features including conserving water, incorporating green materials, selecting energy-efficient appliances, installing electric car chargers, and prioritizing native and drought-tolerant landscaping.

Trees and plantings have several benefits including improved air quality, biodiversity support, noise reduction, and shade. The 9600 Wilshire project proposes planting over 50 trees that will extend the existing tree canopy north from the SW Neighborhood all the way to Wilshire Boulevard.

Overall, trees and green spaces play a vital role in creating a healthier, more sustainable and livable urban environment, benefitting both people and the planet.

We share this concern about Wilshire Boulevard and Beverly Hills.

We have designed 9600 Wilshire to include traffic-calming elements found in Complete Streets that are designed to help slow traffic down and re-emphasize that Bedford, Peck, and Camden are residential streets rather than a cut-through to Charleville and Olympic.

Our development proposal limits the number and scale of events that can take place on our site. There is no ballroom, nor any comparable event space. We have also substantially reduced the office component of the project, minimizing the impact on morning and evening rush hours.

As a residentially driven mixed-use development, 9600 Wilshire by the nature of the uses spreads visits throughout the day, reducing peak hour trips and avoiding overburdening the road network.

The City has prepared a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City project has also studied operational traffic effects in accordance with the City of Beverly Hills requirements.

Our proposal is to transform the existing, commercial and retail-focused site into a residentially driven mixed-use project, which by the nature of the uses distributes traffic less intensely throughout the day. Putting parking below grade allows the creation of public pedestrian spaces.

We have carefully considered and strategically proposed multiple entrances and exits to the site, including commercial entrances on both Bedford using the Via and on Camden using a driveway directly into the underground garage.

Loading and unloading will be within an enclosed loading dock accessed directly off the privately owned but publicly accessible Via on the west and in the existing enclosed loading dock behind Saks Women’s to the east. For residential apartment use, buildings in the Neighborhood District have a loading area recessed on the South Drives to avoid Bedford, Peck, and Camden streets.

The project will have enough sub-surface parking to service the development. Employees and visitors do not need to circulate on public streets searching for parking.

We will route construction traffic to Wilshire, and prohibit it from going through the Southwest neighborhood.

Four levels of easily accessible user-friendly below-grade parking structures will replace the existing surface parking lots. The project is fully self-parked and provides sufficient parking to meet all anticipated demand. To maximize the use of the below-grade parking, it will be free to retail, boutique hotel and social club employees, and visitors will receive two hours of free parking comparable to the City’s public garages.

The heart and namesake of the project is the rehabilitation of 9600 Wilshire Boulevard. The restoration of the original historic structure will continue to celebrate the significance of the architects we originally commissioned: Parkinson and Parkinson and Paul R. Williams.

We cannot overstate our respect for the work of these architects and their impact on the architectural history of Southern California. We have actively researched the building’s history and gathered historic documentation that has informed our proposed rehabilitation of the Saks Building’s historic fabric.

Currently department store row is a somewhat diminished series of stores and vacant spaces that enter from parking lots and garages in the back and generate little or no street life. The 9600 Wilshire project is proposing to infuse this area with the genuine community feel that exists in the Southwest neighborhood today through the introduction of new residential behind the commercial properties along Wilshire Boulevard and the creation of the pedestrian-focused Via and Terrace spaces open to community use and enjoyment.

Preserving community character involves maintaining and enhancing the unique qualities, identity and sense of place that exist within a community. As one of the largest property owners in the area, nothing is more important to us. The only building demolition required for the project is the most recent one-story shoe addition.

Working in partnership with our neighbors we intend to help preserve the community character and foster a sense of pride, identity and belonging among the residents and visitors alike.

By design, the 9600 Wilshire project makes a gradual transition from the Wilshire Boulevard commercial corridor to the multi-family area immediately abutting us, and on to the largely single-family residential neighborhood that is below Charleville Boulevard.

Today, the surface parking lots provide no transition between the commercial and existing residential.  The lots effectively make the height, massing and material transition from commercial to existing residential feel extreme.

The buildings we propose along Wilshire are no taller than the buildings there today. The office building known as Parcel A is the same height as the adjacent former Barney’s Building. The residential building planned on Parcel B along Wilshire Boulevard is the same height as the adjacent former Saks Women’s Building. The residential buildings located on the two existing surface parking lots step down from the existing Saks Women’s Building to six stories. They include twenty-eight units each, well below the number that could otherwise be approved under current zoning and land use designations. The buildings are set back over 25’ from the existing multi-family homes to the south.

Retail will continue to play a key role along Wilshire Boulevard and is an important part of several goals/policies in the City’s General Plan. When considered all together, the various retail offerings within the 9600 Wilshire project will continue to anchor the area in much the same way it has for the last 86 years.

Retail stores along Wilshire can be larger in scale and may occupy the street and second levels of the buildings in a townhouse format. Retail on the north side of the Via and Terrace is similar to that found on Wilshire, but much smaller in scale and less sensitive to visibility from the street.

Retail on the south side of the Via and Terrace is neighborhood scale, small shop retail. Examples are curated specialty shops, local retail operators, ice cream, florist, cafés, specialty services, etc.

Neighborhood retail includes small shops and boutique establishments that primarily serve the needs of the local community and neighborhood, offering goods and services that cater to the needs of residents and visitors within a convenient walking distance.

Examples of this type of neighborhood-scaled retail establishments include smaller restaurants, independent bookstores, florists, card shops, ice cream and gelato parlors, neighborhood cafes, and small boutiques. The stores are often locally owned, and may feature locally produced goods. 

Retail across the Neighborhood District is limited to a combined total of 15,000 square feet.

The shared “Via” is a pedestrian-friendly connection from Peck to Bedford that allows vehicles traveling at low speeds from east to west only. The “Via” will be a new address for various uses including the boutique hotel, club, spa, retail and the residences. Pickup, drop-off, and loading are managed internally, off the public streets.

It is a pedestrian focused environment. Well landscaped with dedicated sidewalks on both sides to ensure the safety and enjoyment of pedestrians, success of the neighborhood retail, and opportunities for outdoor dining.

The Terrace is completely dedicated to the pedestrian, with no vehicles allowed. This allows the creation of a truly special place with a unique variety of retail offerings and public spaces that does not exist in the area today.

This is not like many of the private clubs you hear of today, that are seeking to be an entertainment location for a younger membership. This will not be an events venue, there are no large event spaces.

The Membership Club will be a valued amenity to attract the best hotel operator, and a resource for community members looking for an intimate place to enjoy and gather in small groups. A typical member is a Beverly Hills Saks’ customer.

The project will comply with applicable City requirements with respect to affordable housing. In addition, we are working with the City to promote the development of well-designed affordable housing that will serve the Beverly Hills community.

Residential balconies are strictly for use by our private residences. They will also have architectural screening that is a key component and integral to the facade design.

We share your concern on clutter and residents will not be permitted to use their balconies for storage. Clear building policies, strict enforcement, and providing alternative storage solutions will ensure they are kept uncluttered.

There are a multitude of ways for the public to enjoy the project. These include access to the Via, Terrace, restaurants, retail shops, and spa. We expect the club membership to be accessible to many who live in Beverly Hills.

Public access is critical to the success of this project. We want to see an active pedestrian level and are therefore planning for diverse but appropriate retail and restaurant opportunities along the Via, Terrace, and Wilshire Boulevard.

There will be three levels of management. First, as owner, our employees will provide overall management and oversight of security personnel. We will engage a private management and security firm that will supplement our direct employees. The boutique hotel, club, spa, restaurant, residential, and retail uses will also have their typical management and security teams.

Saks Fifth Avenue is a key component of this project, with a need for creating and operating in a safe and well-managed environment. This is a high priority for our entire company.

The hotel and apartments will be occupied 24/7 adding a constant presence to the Via and Terrace spaces by people with a stake in ensuring safety and security.

Santana Row in San Jose is an example of a California based project of similar scale. It is a bit larger than this project and comparable in many ways.

Current members of the project team have experience executing large, district scale projects throughout the US. Our most recent project was The District Detroit, which had an area of influence of over 50 square blocks and amounted to over $2 billion in private investment. This project was catalytic to the revitalization of Downtown Detroit. Also completed is Blue Back Square mixed-use project in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Locally, we recently completed construction on the former Barneys building with our design and construction partners. The $52 million renovation of 9570 Wilshire Boulevard opened to the public on February 8, 2024 and the work transformed the building into our west coast flagship. 

HBC manages over approximately 20 million square feet of real estate across North America.  We are equipped to manage a project of this size – before, during and after construction.

We also built the original Saks Women’s Store 86 years ago.

We are in many conversations with potential tenants and operators, but we have not made any final decisions. Saks will anchor the project, and the Saks brand will be a key part of the overall strategy for the site.

The project does not include any large event space, and the 9600 Wilshire project will not have the capacity to host large-format gatherings currently handled by various ballrooms in the City. The largest single gathering space within the proposed boutique hotel and club is approximately 3,000 square feet and can accommodate 120-250 people at any given time.

In 2023, the team opened a project display in Beverly Hills that we fondly refer to as the Living Room.

This space is for community meetings, outreach and idea sharing. As of July, we have hosted over 200 small meetings with neighbors and community stakeholders. The team will continue to use the Living Room to meet with the community throughout the approval process. To schedule a tour please visit www.9600wilshire.com/visit.

Providing a secure, well-managed environment is in everyone’s best interest. The 9600 Wilshire Project will incorporate physical and operational best practices to ensure a serene environment for our residents, guests, and neighbors. These include cameras, private security officers, and coordination with Beverly Hills police and security.

Saks Fifth Avenue is an industry leader in analytical and observational security with an excellent record on customer safety and theft reduction. With multiple command centers and qualified facility and digital experts – the 9600 Wilshire project area will be as secure as possible.

Operational consistency and 24/7/365 security proactively drive our Asset Management philosophy.

We agree construction can be disruptive, and commit to minimizing any negative impacts as much as possible. Here is a partial list of the potential impacts we have already identified and corresponding mitigation measures. All construction activities will comply with a construction management plan approved by the City.

• The site will be entirely fenced off to increase safety
• No construction trucks or contractor vehicles will be allowed through the residential neighborhood, and will be routed directly to and from Wilshire Boulevard
• Surrounding roads will be swept and vehicles washed daily to reduce dust and dirt
• Misting will occur during demolition and excavation.
• All equipment will be fitted with Tier-4 systems to reduce noise and emissions
• Off-site contractor parking will be in garages, and will not be allowed on surrounding residential streets
• We will adhere to hours of operation permitted under the Beverly Hills municipal code, with limited nighttime construction for work such as continuous foundation pours to ensure structural integrity.
• Provide a 24/7 contact to quickly address any unforeseen issues

We completed the construction of the new Saks Fifth Avenue store without any complaints registered with the City. We will work hard to build on this success and work with the community to identify potential impacts and commit to strategies to minimize them.

We are experienced at building on sites adjacent to residential neighborhoods. We have already identified specific steps to minimize noise and vibration. 

• The entire site will be surrounded with an eight-foot tall solid wood construction fence with noise dampening materials
• Prior to any nighttime construction, temporary noise barriers will be installed to a height of 20 feet along the southern boundary
• No blasting or pile driving will be utilized
• Construction will occur only during hours outlined in the municipal code
• Equipment on site will be fitted with Tier-4 systems to reduce on-site noise and emissions
• No construction trucks will be allowed to drive through the residential neighborhood, and will be routed to and from Wilshire Boulevard only
• We will maintain a 24/7 hotline to field any calls from the community to address any unexpected issues as quickly as possible

We are also a neighbor.  Our Saks Fifth Avenue store is located directly adjacent to the site and remain open throughout the construction process.  We are motivated to avoid noise and vibration both for the neighborhood and our sister company and its clients.

The 9600 Project Team will follow an approved truck-hauling route. We are proposing that all construction trucks arrive to the site from and depart to Wilshire Boulevard, rather than through the neighborhood to the south. This will mitigate the impact of construction-related truck traffic on neighborhood streets.

An experienced contractor, like our current pre-development partner Matt Construction, will implement best practices to mitigate dust.

Removal of soil on the site will take approximately 25 weeks. Our preliminary studies have concluded no soil contamination on the site. If any soil contamination is found it will be handled in strict compliance with California law.

Excavation and loading of trucks will occur inside the construction fence. Water trucks will be daily on-site and off-site to control dust levels, and additional measures like continuous watering will be employed during select times and when necessary to ensure dust impact is reduced to below significant levels.

We will clean and wash Bedford, Camden, and Peck Streets weekly between Wilshire and Charleville.

It will be necessary to have large cranes for this type of construction. During construction, cranes will be located on-site to avoid having the crane arm movement above private property.

We will stage cranes across the site as needed throughout construction. They will move as needed – their primary purpose is expediting the overall construction process. We are required to provide advance notification to the community should there be any impacts such as street closures, etc.

Crane equipment is heavily regulated, including frequent inspections. The safety standards used on these sites are overseen by CAL OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health) at the state of California are put in place to protect the contractor employees, adjacent residents, and the public.

Managing hazardous materials on a job site is crucial to ensure the safety of workers, the surrounding community, and the environment.

During preliminary investigations, we found no concentrations of hazardous materials other than asbestos, which is typical of buildings built before 1989.

There are strict laws governing any hazardous materials. Any abatement contractor brought onto the site will have extensive experience in this area, follow all applicable laws and regulations, and submit to regular inspections and monitoring.

As part of our commitment to safety and keeping the construction duration as short as possible, we will close a section of Peck Drive for most of construction. We will post signs to ensure that traffic flow is very clear and consistent.

This closure will expedite the project and minimize overall impact to the neighborhood. We will closely coordinate with the Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) and Beverly Hills Fire Department (BHFD) to ensure that emergency personnel have appropriate access at all times.

Yes, we do intend to connect the parking under Peck to provide better access across the site. This connection will avoid unnecessary circulation on public streets, and improve the operations of the garage for residents, visitors, and workers.

We are replacing our current 211 surface parking lot spaces with 744 below grade parking spaces, enough to park all of the proposed uses to meet all anticipated demand.

The four levels of parking below the new Saks Women’s location at 9570 Wilshire will remain and are not part of the 744 total.

The project only removes four on-street parking spots.

However, to address neighborhood concerns, we are providing access to additional, free parking spaces for Local Residents on nights and weekends. These approximately 50 spaces will offer a convenient and secure alternative to street parking, and we will work with the community on a process for residents to reserve parking spaces.

Parking for our employees will be free, and visitors will have two hours of free parking to be consistent with what municipal parking lots.

Construction for the relocation of the Saks Fifth Avenue store within the Barneys building is already completed and opened to the public in February 2024.

Now that the relocation of Saks is complete, the schedule of the project will depend on the timing of receiving further city approvals of the development. Once approved, we will complete full technical design and engineering, and then construction of the project will commence.

Construction is expected to occur over an approximately 5 year period. Site preparation work will take approximately 12 months, with an additional 36 months for our building construction. We estimate that Tenant construction will extend 6-12 months after we are done with our work on the buildings. We will consistently seek to shorten construction duration. We will keep the community informed in advance if the timeline extends due to unforeseen conditions.

Typical construction hours will follow the allowable hours within the City of Beverly Hills of 8 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday. Construction in Beverly Hills is not authorized on holidays.

We value open communication with our neighbors. We will have a dedicated 24/7 hotline where you can voice your concerns and receive updates. Our goal is to keep our neighbors informed at all stages of the construction process and address any questions or issues promptly.

Replacing the surface parking lots with below-grade parking and two residential buildings with 28 units each will improve the aesthetics of the three drives that pass through the project area (Bedford, Peck, Camden). It will also improve public safety through expanded private security presence and eyes on the street by the new residents.

The Via and fully pedestrian-dedicated Terrace introduce over 8,000 square feet of heavily landscaped space open to the community. Both are lined with curated, community scale retail that will be a convenient, beautiful space open to the community to enjoy.  It will promote impromptu community gatherings, be a place to meet friends, see neighbors, and walk your dog.

The Via and Terrace, as well as sidewalk spaces towards the middle of the site, will include outdoor seating for restaurant and cafes.  The intimate scale, along with the specialty paving will calm traffic and reduce vehicle speeds through the area.