Beverly Hills City Council members voted 4-0 Tuesday night to direct staff to draft legislation that would let up to 44 condominiums at One Beverly Hills be rented through the Aman hotel brand for stays as short as one night, carving out an exception to the city's otherwise strict ban on short-term rentals. The council also advanced plans for roughly 11,000 square feet of outpatient surgical space at the development and signed off on a broader package of changes touching taxes, city revenue, environmental fees and an $8.5 million fine-art obligation tied to the project.
The vote, reported by the Beverly Press & Park Labrea News, does not finalize the changes. Instead, the council continued the public hearing to Nov. 10, 2026, when staff are expected to return with a resolution conditionally approving the medical and rental uses, along with an ordinance formally amending the project's development agreement. One Beverly Hills is under construction on roughly 17.5 acres at Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards and is slated to include Aman-branded hotel rooms and residences, additional residential buildings, retail and dining space, and several acres of public gardens and open space.
A Carve-Out From the City's Rental Ban
Beverly Hills' rules generally prohibit renting single-family and multifamily residential units on a transient basis, requiring leases to run at least a year, according to the City of Beverly Hills. The city's own FAQ page states that violators can face administrative fines of up to $5,000 per day for renting or even advertising a unit on a short-term basis. The city enforces its short-term-rental rules.
Existing One Beverly Hills approvals already required residential leases to run at least 180 days and barred the units from being booked through the hotel's reservation system, per the same Beverly Press account. The newly advanced proposal would let participating condo owners place their units into an Aman-managed rental pool for stays as short as a single night, but it caps occupancy at 44 residences on any given night and would not rely on third-party booking platforms like Airbnb. Aman itself would handle reservations, track rental activity and report that information back to the city.
Split Commission, Divided Public Comment
The idea didn't sail through every stage of city review. The Beverly Hills Planning Commission deadlocked 2-2 on the rental program on Aug. 27, even as it unanimously recommended approval of the medical uses, the Beverly Press reported. At the council level, Councilmember Lester Friedman said the situation at One Beverly Hills differs from conventional short-term rentals, while Councilmember Mary Wells agreed the property is unique in its situation and design. Council members discussed limiting how many days each condo could spend in the rental pool annually and setting a minimum nightly rate.
Not everyone on the dais was convinced. Councilmember Rebecca Pynoos raised concerns about unequal treatment and the precedent an approval could set for future developments, and suggested she would want the council to revisit the citywide short-term-rental ban more broadly if she were to support the residences program. Outside government, the Peninsula Beverly Hills — which supports the broader One Beverly Hills project — argued the city's short-term-rental ordinance should apply equally to all residential properties, per the Beverly Press.
Public comment leaned heavily in favor: city staffer Huma Ahmed reported that written comments from 91 people supported the proposal, versus two opposed. Speaker Todd Johnson backed both the medical and rental components, telling the council that professionally managed hotel accommodations differ from an independently run vacation rental. Andy Licht also supported the amendments, saying they would benefit the city. Darian Bojeaux pushed back, arguing One Beverly Hills shouldn't get an exemption from the city's rental restrictions and that high-end homes elsewhere could generate similar hospitality revenue if exceptions were handed out fairly.
Orthopedic Surgery Center and Fine-Art Obligations
Beyond the rental question, the council directed staff to prepare a resolution conditionally approving roughly 11,000 square feet of outpatient medical and surgical uses in the development's promenade amenity area. The planned facility would offer orthopedic care, sports medicine and recovery services, led by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, and is expected to include one or two operating rooms, doctors' offices and postoperative space. Council members sought restrictions requiring the project to come back for further review before expanding into substantially different uses, with Wells saying the facility shouldn't morph into other kinds of businesses without returning to the council. The amended development agreement would also require the medical operation to pay the city a share of its gross receipts as a public benefit.
The council likewise supported changes to the project's $8.5 million fine-art obligation, allowing part of it to be satisfied through a performance-art venue and programming rather than permanent artwork alone. Cain International proposed roughly five permanent art installations, a rotating installation and a performance space inside the development's publicly accessible botanical garden. Larry Green, a senior managing director at Cain International, said about $6 million to $6.5 million would remain devoted to permanent art, with roughly $2 million supporting performance and rotating pieces. In a statement to the Beverly Press, Green said Cain International was encouraged by the council meeting's outcome and grateful for community support and council feedback.
Revenue Estimates and What Happens Next
City officials have floated competing figures for what the overall package could mean for Beverly Hills' coffers. Cain previously estimated the amendments would generate an additional $20 million annually for the city, while Ryan Gohlich separately estimated the rental program alone could bring in roughly $10 million to $20 million a year. Neither estimate has been independently verified through outside fiscal analysis. The development agreement ordinance is also set to impose a combined 19 percent transient-occupancy tax and municipal surcharge on stays of less than a year, and would raise the project's environmental mitigation and sustainability fees.
Mayor Craig Corman was absent from the meeting due to illness; he typically recuses himself from One Beverly Hills discussions because he belongs to the neighboring Los Angeles Country Club. Nothing approved this week is final — the council is set to take up formal approval of the resolution and ordinance on Nov. 10, 2026, when the fate of the rental pool, the surgical center and the revised art obligations will be back before the full council.
