Mr. C’s next-door neighbors get in on hotel-style luxuries

The appeal of the turnkey home is hard to resist. Mr. C Residences near Beverly Hills is the latest project to bet big on the lure of the luxury-hotel-meets-home hybrid, with five town-house-style, four-story attached units next to the Mr. C Hotel.

Included in the steep price are amenities and serious design cachet.

Developer Bob Ghassemieh of Atlantic Pearl Investments acquired the former Loews Hotel in 2006, renovating the structure in partnership with the Cipriani family and brand (originally of Harry’s Bar in Venice fame), and reopening the hotel in 2011.

He bought the adjacent property soon after the hotel purchase for the purpose of adding a full-service luxury residential component. For this next phase, Ghassemieh enlisted iconic Los Angeles architect Ray Kappe, the founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture and one of the region’s preeminent and longest-working modernists, and Italian interior designer and architect Marcello Pozzi.

“There really isn’t anything like it,” Ghassemieh said of Mr. C Residences. For now, at least: The Montage Beverly Hills contains dedicated floors for residents, as does the Ritz-Carlton downtown. Hotel residential projects under top-tier hotel names such as the Edition and the Waldorf Astoria are currently in development.

The degree of privacy and luxury (e.g., chauffeured luxury vehicles included) incorporated into the Mr. C Residences, however, stands out.

“Cipriani is a global product,” he added. “It made a lot of sense to be the first one on the West Coast, with L.A. being an international city.”

The physical result is a form-follows-entitlements and context solution. “My primary goal was to have these special units complement the existing hotel and provide the maximum number of units allowed with the parking requirement,” said the Santa Monica-based Kappe, who at 90 years old is an elder statesman of L.A. architecture.

Both Kappe and Pozzi had already worked together on projects with Ghassemieh. Kappe oversaw the extensive renovation of a 1957 house in the Hollywood Hills originally of his own design that Ghassemieh purchased; Ghassemieh subsequently hired the architect for a ground-up construction project in Beverly Hills that was completed this year. Pozzi was responsible for interiors of that home, as well as the Mr. C Hotel overhaul. (The latter was completed while Pozzi was on staff at Gensler.)

Kappe incorporated contemporary yet classic elements and materials such as folding glazed panels, redwood ceilings, teak floors and limestone. All units contain a private elevator and a private parking garage with two parking spaces. Pozzi’s interior details include furniture by Fritz Hansen and Gallotti & Radice, and Max Farina photographs that capture scenes of the Cipriani family’s native Venice.

“You’re close to the heart of Beverly Hills but tucked in the residential area that’s very quiet,” Ghassemieh said of the location at Beverwil Drive and Pico Boulevard, south of that city’s famed downtown.

Mr. C Residences maintains a separate entrance from the hotel, and all amenities are available to residents, from valet to cleaning to dining services. It’s the kind of setup that appeals to a citizen of the world, with very deep pockets to match.

Units are from 1,990 to 3,358 square feet, and prices are $4 million to $8 million.

Ghassemieh noted that the hotel will retain one or two of the residences for 30-day minimum stays, and Mr. C Residences owners have the option of turning units over to the hotel, subject to a revenue-sharing agreement.

hotproperty@latimes.com

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