Preconstruction Contract Moves Green Beverly Hills Project Forward

Plans for the development of 9900 Wilshire, an über-upscale condominium project in Beverly Hills, are moving forward now that developer Project Lotus L.L.C. has awarded Rudolph and Sletten Inc. the preconstruction services contract for the long-awaited endeavor. Project Lotus, a joint venture involving CPC Group and Kaupthing HF, will build the 235-unit green residential project on an eight-acre parcel that the team snapped up for $500 million in 2007. Among Rudolph & Sletten’s initial activities at 9900 Wilshire (pictured) will be the removal and replacement of a water pipe that serves the beach city of Santa Monica, located west of Beverly Hills. With completion of the new water pipe’s installation, construction will get underway immediately. Located on what was once the site of a Robinsons-May department store, the Richard Meier-designed 9900 Wilshire will consist of two towers. The highly coveted parcel–which was the last remaining available lot of its size in Beverly Hills– will also feature public and private landscaped gardens. But it’s not just the gardens that will be green; the entire project is being designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. Rudolph & Sletten has come aboard a project that has been a long time coming. The condominium complex had originally been conceived by New Pacific Corp., which sold 9900 Wilshire to Project Lotus three years ago. New Pacific had been contending with the fact that the land was encumbered, as Robinsons-May had three ground leases for 25-year terms in place with land owner Equitable Insurance Co. Ultimately, New Pacific paid a mere $33.5 million for the property. With New Pacific’s sale of the site to Project Lotus for half-a-billion-dollars, the company turned quite a profit and achieved the distinction of having played a part in what was lauded as the second largest property transaction–in dollar value–in Los Angeles County’s history. Rudolph & Sletten, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., is one of the leading general contracting concerns on the West Coast. The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Perini Corp., which is the ninth largest construction services company in the U.S. Perini stock opened today at $27.64.