Los Angeles has long been known for its pricy residential real estate. A new project in West Hollywood is no exception. Indeed, some of its units listed for tens of millions of dollars.
Townscape Partners, the West Hollywood-based developer of the property at 8899 Beverly, has off-market listings for two penthouses being offered at $50 million each or as a single penthouse unit for $100 million.

The lofty-priced penthouses are located atop the10-story, 40-unit adaptive reuse project in West Hollywood, which debuted in April.
“We bought the property in July 2012,” said Tyler Siegel, who with John Irwin is the principal of Townscape Partners. “We’re about to come up to the 10-year anniversary of making this project a reality. It’s been a long, challenging road to deliver product of this caliber.”

In June 2021, Townscape and investment partner Angelo Gordon landed a $231-million condo inventory loan for 8899 Beverly. Deutsche Bank provided the senior mortgage, while Starwood Property Trust provided a mezzanine loan. Cushman & Wakefield’s Rob Rubano and Keith Padien arranged the financing.

Originally built in 1962 as the International Design Center — a precursor to West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center — the building went through an era when ICM Partners was a tenant and later became home to various entertainment-related businesses. Because of when it was built, the tower has a height which predates West Hollywood zoning restrictions.

“You’re getting great views all the way from the lowest floors,” Siegel said.
Modernizing the tower proved a challenge for Townscape.
“It’s pretty nontraditional adaptive reuse,” Siegel said. “It wasn’t just taking the original and repurposing it. We doubled the size of every floorplate. The building got wider.”

The east-facing penthouse has its own private elevator and lobby. If combined with the other penthouse, with its 20,000-square-foot floor plate, “as far as we know it would make for the largest single (condo) floor in the world,” Siegel said.
“The top of our building has a completely different structure than the rest of the building,” Siegel said. “It’s really a custom-designed home that happens to be on the top of building.”

High-end features

The project, designed by architecture firm Olson Kundig and executed by Large Architecture, received much input from Siegel and Irwin.
“We were really pioneering,” Siegel said. “We had to persevere and challenge the team to really get it right.”

Olson Kundig designed the reworked building as well as the lobby’s custom furniture and light fixtures,includingAlaskan white oak wood ceilings, wood wall paneling and Italian silver travertine exterior stone.

There are also Vitrocsa glass walls that can be rolled back to blend the condos’ interior with the outside and the units’ exterior terraces.architectural feature of the tower.

“It was a very early decision that we made to have the highest operable glass,” Siegel said. “It’s the flattest glass that we could find.”
“Because it was an office building, it is very high floor to floor,” Siegel added. “Many of our units have a sliding wall system. The end result of doing all that work is just an incredible experience.”

The penthouse has 14-foot-high ceilings and also features the high-end glass with 550 feet of operable Vitrocsa glazing.
“The penthouse takes that design idea to the nth degree,” Siegel said. Fredrik Eklund, an agent with Douglas Elliman Real Estate who has the listing for the property, has been a part of the development since it broke ground. In a statement he said he knew he was “part of something special” when he was brought on to the project.

“8899 Beverly is the best residential project in California, bar none,” he said in a statement. “It’s a great honor to work on something where everything is done right in the ultimate L.A. location.”

Homes for sale

Behind the tower are the adjoining Rosewood Houses, a collection of eight homesequipped with a swimming pool, Jacuzzi or both.
These are two-story homes sitting on what used to be a parking lot.
“They’re all different floor plans,” Siegel said, and include a Japanese-style exterior. “I like to joke that this is the architect showing off.”

Beyond features found in the houses themselves, residents will also have access to the same services and amenities offered in the condominium building. According to Siegel, most of the residences Olson Kundig designs for its clients cost between $30 million and $60 million.

“They like to do what I call unpretentious work,” Siegel said of Olson Kundig.
The houses are compatible, he said, with the other homes along Rosewood Avenue.
“In many ways, putting (in) these homes is sort of sketching back the fabric of the neighborhood,” Siegel said.

The price range of the residences is $7 million to $12 million per property, depending on size.
The tower’s units start at just under $3 million, escalating to the penthouse’s $50 million price tag.

And despite the heafty prices, units are selling. “It’s doing very well,” Siegel said. “A lot of the larger north-facing units are sold at this point.”
A draw for some buyers may be the building’s restaurant. The 8899 Beverly tower’s ground-floor level used to house beloved Italian restaurant Madeo. After 36 years at the location, Madeo has been replaced by a new Italian restaurant, Stella, operated by Janet Zuccarini. A chef from Toronto, Rob Gentile, runs the kitchen.

Nearby, Townscape also has plans for 8150 Sunset, at the southwest corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards, where a project with five buildings designed by legendary architect Frank Gehry could rise.
Currently in the permitting phase awaiting construction, the complex is expected to feature 249 housing units and include retail and other commercial space.