125-129 S. Linden Drive Mixed-Use Tower (Beverly Hills)

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Beverly Hills misses the October 15, 2021 deadline to adopt a compliant 6th Cycle Housing Element. The city begins a 2.5-year period of non-compliance during which Builder's Remedy applies to all qualifying housing projects.

Leo Pustilnikov submits a preliminary application under SB 330 / Builder's Remedy for a 16-story, 200-unit residential tower at 125-129 South Linden Drive — a surface parking lot one block south of Wilshire Boulevard. This is the first Builder's Remedy application filed in Beverly Hills.

Pustilnikov redesigns and resubmits the Linden Drive project as a 19-story building with 165 apartments (33 affordable) and a 73-room hotel. Beverly Hills issues an incompleteness determination requiring a General Plan Amendment and Zoning Change. HCD will later specifically find this requirement is NOT required for Builder's Remedy projects.

HCD certifies Beverly Hills's 6th Cycle Housing Element on May 1, 2024 — 2.5 years after the October 15, 2021 deadline. The certification closes the Builder's Remedy window for new applications. All projects submitted before this date retain vested rights under SB 330.

The Beverly Hills City Council rejects Pustilnikov's appeal of the incompleteness determination, upholding the GPA/ZC requirement. Governor Newsom: "Now is a time to build more housing, not cave to the demands of NIMBYs." Californians for Homeownership files a lawsuit the same day.

HCD issues a formal Notice of Violation to Beverly Hills. Key finding: the incompleteness determination requiring a GPA/ZC is NOT required for Builder's Remedy projects. Governor Newsom: "We can't solve homelessness without addressing our housing shortage. Now is a time to build more housing, not cave to the demands of NIMBYs."

HCD issues a second expanded letter specifically addressing all ten Beverly Hills Builder's Remedy applications (981 units total, 198 affordable). HCD confirms all ten qualify for Builder's Remedy and the GPA/ZC argument is invalid for all of them.

An LA Superior Court judge rules that Beverly Hills violated state housing law in its handling of the 125-129 S. Linden Drive project. The court orders the city to process the application. Dave Rand: "I can't begin to tell you how validating it is. A lot of these legal questions — they're new."

Following the August 14, 2025 court ruling, Pustilnikov immediately doubles the Linden Drive project from 19 stories to 36 stories — taking full advantage of Builder's Remedy's lack of height and density restrictions. No formal approval has been granted.

The Beverly Hills Planning Commission votes to draft a resolution of denial for the Builder's Remedy project at 8844 Burton Way (Crescent Heights, 26-story building). The denial is against the recommendation of both staff and the Beverly Hills city attorney. Commissioner Gary Ross invokes an allegation about state anti-segregation laws regarding placement of affordable units — a novel and contested legal argument. Dave Rand: if the City Council upholds the denial, the developer plans to file litigation. A nearby resident: "The community will not relent in its effort to prevent the project from being built."

"Everything that the state has told the city we communicated with them, and we begged them to work with state law, but they rejected it." (Dave Rand, Pustilnikov's attorney). Won court ruling August 2025 ordering Beverly Hills to process the application. Doubled project to 36 stories immediately after. Has 7 pending Builder's Remedy projects in Beverly Hills alone.

HCD Notice of Violation (August 22, 2024): Beverly Hills's GPA/ZC requirement is NOT required for Builder's Remedy projects. HCD second letter (November/December 2024) extended these findings to all 10 blocked projects (981 units, 198 affordable). Director Velasquez: "Every city, including those with the most expensive homes, has a legal and moral responsibility to comply with state housing law."

Filed lawsuit against Beverly Hills in June 2024 after the City Council rejected Pustilnikov's appeal. Had previously won a separate lawsuit in 2023 against Beverly Hills over failure to adopt a certified Housing Element. Counsel Matt Gelfand on the 140 S. Camden Drive denial (2025): "The city's latest builder's remedy denial was based on transparently pretextual grounds and was unlawful."

Issued incompleteness determinations citing GPA/ZC requirements to ALL ten Builder's Remedy applications. HCD found this requirement was pretextual. City Council rejected Pustilnikov's appeal June 2024. City statement: "The city's action on the Linden project was procedural in nature and unrelated to the certification date of the Housing Element." Still denying projects after August 2025 ruling (8844 Burton Way denied October 2025 against staff recommendation).

"None of us are opposed to affordable housing... but you don't have to be a NIMBY to say that's just so far out of line." A tower of this height on a block of low-rise apartments does not fit the neighborhood. The scale is what residents object to, not the principle of affordable housing.

Beverly Hills's primary obstruction mechanism: issuing incompleteness determinations to ALL ten Builder's Remedy applications received during its 2.5-year Housing Element non-compliance period, citing a requirement for General Plan Amendments and Zoning Changes (GPA/ZC). HCD specifically found this GPA/ZC requirement was NOT required for Builder's Remedy projects. For Linden Drive specifically: incompleteness determination upheld by City Council June 2024, overturned by LA Superior Court August 2025. For all 10 projects: 981 units (198 affordable) blocked using the same mechanism. Beverly Hills used quiet bureaucratic incompleteness rather than an explicit ban (unlike Huntington Beach) or a mountain lion (unlike Woodside) — the most durable form of obstruction in this database because it requires no affirmative vote and generates no single galvanizing moment.

Beverly Hills required all Builder's Remedy applicants to undergo General Plan Amendment and Zoning Change processes (GPA/ZC) as a condition of application completeness. This imposed a discretionary review burden — the same review process that Builder's Remedy is specifically designed to bypass. HCD's August 2024 NOV and December 2024 letter both explicitly found the GPA/ZC requirement was pretextual and not legally required. The mechanism achieved its purpose for 31 months before the court ruling.

Official city page listing all pending Builder's Remedy projects, HCD letters, and city legal positions. Confirms HCD certification date (May 1, 2024) and the city's determinations for each project.

Best source for the 8844 Burton Way denial (October 2025). Confirms denial was against staff and city attorney recommendation and that the anti-segregation argument was novel and contested.

Coverage after the August 2025 ruling and the Planning Commission's October 2025 denial of 8844 Burton Way. Good for the timeline of how BH moved from court ruling back to denial within 3 months.

Best single source for the August 2025 court ruling. Contains Rand quote, Pustilnikov's background across 12 projects, and context for what the ruling means for other BH Builder's Remedy projects.

HCD's second letter covering all 10 Beverly Hills Builder's Remedy projects (981 units, 198 affordable). Confirms the GPA/ZC argument is invalid for all of them. Primary government source for the systemic nature of the blocking.

Best source for the HCD Notice of Violation. Confirms October 2022 preliminary application date, June 2024 City Council rejection, and Governor Newsom response.

Best source for Goldman ("not opposed to affordable housing... just so far out of line") and broader community opposition. Confirms Newsom's direct intervention and Pustilnikov's full SoCal portfolio.