Cases & Deals

Project Lotus acquires, obtains financing for, and develops luxury mixed-use development in California

Client(s) Project Lotus LLC

Jones Day advised Project Lotus, LLC, a joint venture consisting of Guernsey-based CPC Group (controlled by Christian and Nicholas Candy of Britain) and Iceland-based Kaupthing HS Bank, in the $500 million acquisition of an 8-acre development site at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

The site, formerly known as the Robinsons-May site, sits on prime property on the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards in Los Angeles County. The Candy brothers will build a more than 1.5-million-square-foot mixed-use luxury residential structure, designed to qualify for the LEED/Gold/Platinum certification, and landscaped gardens on the land, which neighbors the Beverly Hills Hilton and the Los Angeles Country Club. Jones Day will handle the development of this site.

Jones Day handled both the acquisition of the property and the acquisition financing, totaling $356 million, provided by Credit Suisse. The transaction has been heralded as the second largest property acquisition (in dollar value) ever to occur in Los Angeles County.