On April 21, the Beverly Hills City Council reversed course on a hotly watched development fight, voting to rescind its earlier denial of an appeal for a proposed 15-story, 27-unit residential tower at 140 S. Camden Drive. The move follows a legal settlement with the applicant and sends the slim, CARA-designed high-rise back into the city's review pipeline after months of courtroom wrangling.
According to an agenda report from the City of Beverly Hills, the council adopted a resolution rescinding Resolution No. 25-R-13547. The settlement requires the city to undo its prior denial and continue processing the application. The report identifies Wilshire Camden, LLC as the applicant.
Project details
The plans on file call for a roughly 194-foot, 15-story residential building with 27 units stacked above a below-ground automated parking system that could hold about 44 vehicles. CARA Architecture is listed as the project's designer. Urbanize LA notes that the development would reserve six units for lower-income households under Builder's Remedy rules, with those homes deed-restricted as affordable.
Settlement and timeline
The developer filed a Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate in the Los Angeles Superior Court on June 3, 2025, challenging the city's actions. The parties ultimately reached a settlement late last year that obligates the council to rescind its prior decision and move the project forward in the review process.
As the agenda report from the City of Beverly Hills puts it, “The settlement agreement provides, among other things, that the City Council must rescind Resolution No. 25-R-13547 and process the project.” The same report says the original incomplete findings on the application date back to October 3, 2024, and that the council had upheld those findings on March 4, 2025.
Developer's track record
Developer Masoud “Max” Netty, who operates through Wilshire Camden and related entities, is no stranger to Builder's Remedy battles in Beverly Hills. He has pushed several such proposals across the city and already secured a win on a higher-profile address. The Real Deal reported that a 19-story Netty project on Rodeo Drive won city approval in late 2025 after legal threats and negotiations.
Why this matters
The controversial Builder's Remedy process comes out of the state Housing Accountability Act and can allow developers who include on-site affordable housing to move ahead even when local zoning rules would normally block their projects. The California Department of Housing and Community Development certified Beverly Hills' 2021 to 2029 housing element on May 1, 2024, which narrowed the window for projects to claim Builder's Remedy protections.
A letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development lays out the timing and compliance standards that determine which developments can use that path.
Neighbors and politics
Before the settlement, the project had run into a wall of neighborhood opposition and skepticism from some council members. Those concerns helped drive the March 4, 2025 vote to uphold the city's finding that the application was incomplete, a dispute that turned on when documents were filed and whether the formal application matched earlier submittals. The Beverly Press detailed the hearing and the arguments over filing dates and completeness that shaped the council's decision at the time.
Legal note
Beverly Hills has been hit with more than a dozen Builder's Remedy proposals and multiple lawsuits, turning housing law into a recurring agenda item at City Hall. The city has been exploring settlement strategies and streamlined review options to handle the litigation wave. Bisnow reported on discussions of ministerial approvals and negotiations similar to approaches used in other cities to cut down on courtroom battles.
Rescinding the March 2025 denial does not translate into shovels in the ground just yet. The application now heads back to staff review and could still be revised, reduced in scale, or subjected to additional hearings before any permits are issued. For now, the council's reversal simply gives the Camden Drive tower another shot at surviving Beverly Hills' planning gantlet.
