Luxury hotel proposal pits celebrities against celebrities in Benedict Canyon

Abstract

The Beverly Hills-adjacent site of the upscale hotel project - in a neighborhood where home prices range from $3 million to $100 million - is the 33-acre former home of billionaire businessman Kirk Kerkorian. On one side of the feud is Gary Safady, a real estate developer and movie producer, who is proposing a hotel project with 58 guest rooms and suites, plus eight private residences, a 10,000-square-foot spa, a gym, a private theater and an eight-seat sushi bar, along with a restaurant. Among the project supporters, according to letters written on behalf of the project, are actors Mark Wahlberg, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Gerard Butler, Orlando Bloom, Adrien Brody and Jon Lovitz, plus rock musician Gene Simmons. The neighborhood - shaded in oak, sycamore and willow trees - is peppered with signs decrying the hotel project. Despite the opposition to the project by influential elected officials, opponents of the hotel project say they can't be too confident that the City Council will kill the proposal. In response to criticism from opponents, Safady said his project compares favorably with the nearby swanky Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, two larger upscale hotels that draw more visitors than would the Bulgari and are each located on only 12 acres of land. As for the trees that would be removed to complete the project, Safady said his project will replace the removed trees on a 4-to-1 basis.