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29 March 2024

Asian investors buy Beverly Hills landmark

Published
By AFP

A group of Hong Kong- and Singapore-based investors has paid a knock-down price of 150 million dollars for a former landmark property in Beverly Hills, they announced Tuesday.

Joint Treasure Ltd. bought the eight-acre property next to the Beverly Hilton -- for less than a third of its sale price of around 500 million in 2007 -- at auction from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's bank, Inbursa.

The 9900 Wilshire Boulevard site, formerly home to the upscale Robinson's Beverly Hills department store, was owned by Britain's Candy Brothers but fell into foreclosure this year and was acquired by Inbursa, a lender.

The site, bought for 148.3 million dollars, is at the junction of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards in the heart of Beverly Hills.

The new owner is a group comprising three partners -- Chow Tai Fook Group of Hong Kong; Wee Cho Yaw Family Group of Singapore and David Chiu of Far East Consortium International Limited, a commercial property and hotel developer.

They intend to develop the site with 235 condominiums and 17,000-square-feet of retail and restaurant space, under a plan given permission by local authorities in 2008.

"This is an incomparable site that cannot be replicated, and we intend to build a superb project offering world-class luxury residences," said Daniel Yiu, senior adviser to Joint Treasure.