Drive west on Wilshire through Beverly Hills and eventually you hit something that does not look like Beverly Hills anymore.
Cranes.
Excavators.
Concrete.
An enormous construction site at Wilshire and Santa Monica.
This is One Beverly Hills.
And the numbers are almost hard to believe.
17.5 acres.
An estimated $10 billion project.
Two Aman residential towers.
Fewer than 200 homes.
A 78-suite Aman hotel.
A private Aman club.
About 10 acres of gardens and open space.
Up to 45 shops and restaurants.
And Aman residences that could reach around $7,000 per square foot.
This is not another luxury condo building.
It is almost a city inside a city.
And I wanted to understand what something this big could actually do to Beverly Hills.
So I spoke with two people who work at the top of this market.
One is helping sell the condos.
The other sells the houses sitting below them.
You've Probably Seen This Guy's Name 1,000 Times
If you drive Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Melrose, Sunset or Malibu, you know the name Jay Luchs.
Maybe you do not know him.
But you know the signs.
JAY LUCHS.
FOR LEASE.
LEASED.
SOLD.
They seem to be everywhere.
Luchs is an Executive Vice Chairman at Newmark and one of the best-known luxury retail brokers in Los Angeles.
Newmark says he has been one of the company's top producers worldwide since 2014. He has closed several billion dollars of leases and property sales.
His team represents more than 125 properties for landlords across Los Angeles.
And his client list reads like a luxury directory.
Louis Vuitton.
Dior.
Celine.
Loewe.
Givenchy.
Alo.
KITH.
Equinox.
LVMH.
He has also been involved in some enormous Beverly Hills property deals, including LVMH's $200 million purchase of the former Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel.
Now he is involved with something much bigger.
One Beverly Hills.
He Helped on the $4.3 Billion. Now He's Helping Sell the Condos.
Earlier this year, the developers behind One Beverly Hills announced $4.3 billion in financing to finish the project.
J.P. Morgan is leading $2.8 billion.
VICI Properties is providing another $1.5 billion.
But Luchs gave me an interesting detail about his own role.
He told me:
I was on the side that helped raise the $4.3 billion in construction debt.
Now he is on the other side of the project too.
He is helping handle the condo sales for Newmark's residential division.
So I asked him what exactly they are selling.
His answer was simple.
A "city within a city."
Luchs told me:
This project is a city within a city that will be both for the public to enjoy as well as for the hotel visitors and for the condo owners, at the highest level.
He pointed to the luxury stores, restaurants, private clubs, nightlife, health and wellness, yoga, Pilates, padel and gardens.
His point is important.
They are not just selling a condo.
They are selling everything around it.
What $10 Billion Actually Builds
One Beverly Hills is being designed by Foster + Partners and will connect with the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria.
The project includes a 78-suite Aman hotel, two Aman residential towers, a private Aman club and about 200,000 square feet of shopping and dining.
Some of the first names have already been announced.
Dolce&Gabbana.
Casa Tua Cucina.
Los Mochis.
Eventually, the project could have as many as 45 shops and restaurants.
Then there are roughly 10 acres of gardens and open space.
Put it all together and you start to understand Luchs' "city within a city" description.
Hotel.
Homes.
Shopping.
Restaurants.
Club.
Wellness.
Gardens.
All on 17.5 acres in the middle of Beverly Hills.
But the most interesting numbers are upstairs.
The First Tower Has Only 69 Homes
The two Aman towers will contain fewer than 200 residences combined.
The first tower has just 69.
Reported pricing starts around $20 million.
And pricing at the project could reach around $7,000 per square foot.
That is an extraordinary number even for Beverly Hills.
But buyers are already showing up.
More than $1 billion of residences have reportedly been reserved or put under contract since sales began.
Reported deals include residences around $39.8 million and $46 million.
Then came a reported $107 million deal for an unfinished full-floor residence that the buyer plans to customize.
And above all of them sits a number that sounds almost ridiculous.
$200 million.
The $200 Million Condo
One of the penthouses has roughly 16,800 square feet inside.
Then add more than 14,000 square feet outside.
Six bedrooms.
Private pools.
A rooftop terrace.
Views across Los Angeles.
The price:
$200 million.
For a condo.
One penthouse has reportedly been reserved, while its matching counterpart has been offered around the same price.
The important word is reserved.
It has not closed.
But if one eventually closes anywhere near $200 million, it would destroy the current Los Angeles condo record of about $39 million.
For a while, Jeff Bezos' name was rumored to be connected to one of the penthouses.
So I asked Jay directly.
He told me Bezos is not the buyer.
It was a rumor.
And I think that's where the story gets more interesting.
Forget the celebrity guessing game.
The real question is:
If people are willing to pay these prices in the towers, what happens to the houses sitting underneath them?
Jordana Leigh Thinks the Flats Are Next
That question brought me to Jordana Leigh.
Leigh is with Christie's International Real Estate and sells some of the most expensive homes in Beverly Hills.
She has more than $5 billion in career sales, including more than $300 million last year.
For transparency, Jordana represented me when I bought my home.
I know her and have worked with her personally.
So I asked her what One Beverly Hills could mean for the houses surrounding it.
She told me:
This is going to be the most exquisite $7,000 per square foot construction the city of LA has ever seen.
But then she gave me the number that really caught my attention.
She thinks new homes in the Beverly Hills Flats could reach:
$4,000 per square foot.
And fixers:
$3,000 per square foot.
That may end up being the bigger story.
Could $7,000-a-Foot Condos Pull the Flats Higher?
Think about the choice facing a wealthy buyer.
Spend $20 million, $30 million, $50 million or more at Aman and you get the hotel, club, restaurants, shopping, gardens, security and service.
Or go a few blocks away and buy a house.
Your own land.
Your own front door.
Your own yard.
More privacy.
They are completely different products.
But the same buyers can compare them.
And that is why Jordana's $4,000-per-foot prediction matters.
If One Beverly Hills establishes a new price level for luxury condos, buyers may start looking at nearby houses differently.
A $30 million house looks different when the alternative is a $30 million condo.
The tower could pull the street up with it.
Look at What Is Happening on One Corner
Step back and look at the numbers again.
$10 billion being built.
$4.3 billion in financing.
More than $1 billion of residences reportedly reserved or under contract.
A $107 million full-floor residence.
A $200 million penthouse.
Condos potentially around $7,000 per square foot.
And one of Beverly Hills' top residential brokers saying new homes in the Flats could reach $4,000 per square foot.
That is a lot of money being concentrated into one very small part of Los Angeles.
And there is a simple reason this might work.
You cannot make more of this location.
There is only one corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica next to the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria.
There are only so many houses in the Beverly Hills Flats.
There are only so many storefronts on Rodeo Drive.
And it is hard to imagine another 17.5-acre site like this ever being assembled in Beverly Hills.
Operator Take
I started looking at this story because of the $200 million penthouse.
Then I heard the Bezos rumor.
But that is not the number I came away thinking about.
The number I keep coming back to is:
$4,000 per square foot.
Jay Luchs helped on the side that raised the $4.3 billion, and now he is helping sell the condos.
Jordana Leigh sells the houses around them.
And she thinks what happens inside these towers could pull the neighborhood around them higher.
If Aman residences really establish pricing around $7,000 per square foot, we are going to find out what buyers think the land and houses sitting nearby are worth.
That is why One Beverly Hills matters even if you will never buy a condo there.
It may not just transform the Beverly Hills skyline.
It could transform the price of Beverly Hills underneath it.
I am watching ONE thing now.
The next major sale inside One Beverly Hills.