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Riding the Cheval Blanc

Bernard Arnault is a visionary. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH).

Paris-based and multinational conglomerate LVMH owns some of the most recognized and iconic brands in the world such as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Christian Dior, Tiffany, Bulgari, Céline, Loewe, Fendi, Emilio Pucci, Guerlain, Kenzo, Sephora, Thomas Pink and multiple others.

Named after a winery; Chateau Cheval Blanc which was privately acquired by Arnault and later transferred to LVMH, Le Cheval Blanc opened its first hotel in 2006 in the French Alps town of Courchevel. 

The Cheval Blanc brand is known for offering contemporary and refined hospitality with the emphasis on exceptional surroundings, spacious living areas, high-end facilities, and a customized approach to services tailored to meet the individual needs and expectations of each guest. Its founding values are craftsmanship, exclusivity, privacy, creativity, and most importantly l’art de reçevoir or the art of hospitality.

Designed as a limited edition and referred to as a “maison”, one can also enjoy and appreciate the Cheval Blanc experience in the Maldives, the Caribbean (St-Barth), St-Tropez, Paris, and soon Beverly Hills.

The seed of a Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills location appeared to have been planted in the early spring of 2018 when LVMH paid $110M for a retail space located at 456 N.Rodeo Drive squeezed between the Ralph Lauren store to the south and the old Brooks Brothers store to the north. The seller, the Sterling Organization, a private equity firm based in Palm Beach Florida, had purchased the property less than 24 hours earlier for $55M from the Schurz Family Trust. 

While 456 N.Rodeo Drive may be remembered as the subject of a sterling unreal estate flip, it is a retail space that has been the home of multiple tenants over many decades but none more entrancing than the eponymous Raymond Burr Galleries. 

Raymond Burr, the pride of New Westminster BC and television star of “Perry Mason” and “Ironside”, was a fervent and serious art collector. He opened the Raymond Burr Galleries on Rodeo Drive in the early 1960s.

In the Fall of 2018, LVMH in its pursuit to secure a favorable site for the future location of a Cheval Blanc hotel acquired the Brooks Brothers site located at 468 N.Rodeo Drive, directly adjacent to the 456 N.Rodeo Drive property purchased a few months earlier in the same year. Initially listed at $300M, LVMH paid $245M to the Margaret J. Anderson Family Trust for the property. The Anderson family was responsible for building the famous pink stucco Beverly Hills Hotel in 1912.

In the Fall of 2022, the Beverly Hills Council green-lighted LVMH’s plan to open a Cheval Blanc hotel. The 109-key hotel is to be erected at the corner of North Rodeo Drive and South Santa Monica Boulevard and is on pace to open in 2026.

Furthermore, LVMH is currently exploring the development of a 58-room Bulgari Hotel to be built on the late billionaire businessman Kirk Kerkorian’s former 33-acre hillside home in Benedict Canyon. 

On May 23, 2023, Beverly Hills' 22,000 registered voters were given the opportunity to decide the fate of the project that many believed to be too big for the area. 

Even though the city already approved these plans, the election posed two questions to voters:

  • Whether they approved a zoning amendment that would allow the developer to build a substantially larger hotel than current rules would permit

  • Whether they approved the city’s development agreement with LVMH
     

Turnout among voters was nearly 32%, and by a very narrow margin (around 51% to 49%), voters decided against both of these measures. That means that the Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills project has now been called off.

LVMH has confirmed that it will respect the outcome of the election, and won’t bring the hotel project back in any form. 

The question that remains now is what will happen to the 1.28-acre site that LVMH has put together over the last few years with the intent to open a Cheval Blanc hotel in the city of Beverly Hills.

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