WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA—When getting through the ridged approvals process in West Hollywood, diplomacy in the community is key, according to Daniel Mense, a director at Ness Holdings. In an earlier story, GlobeSt.com reported that Ness Holdings had received approvals for the final phase of a 35-unit condo development in West Hollywood. The property is the first condo project proposed on a residential street, and as a result, there were some concerns from the city and pushback from residents. Mense, however, said that working within the group was the key to getting through the process.

“Our main concern in receiving approval was that our project was the first of its kind to be built on a residential street,” Mense tells GlobeSt.com. “Most of the larger scale projects are being constructed on main thoroughfares such as Fairfax or Santa Monica. Since our project was being built on a residential street, we knew we would have some pretty vocal opponents.  However, I think our success in receiving approval stems from the fact that we have a great project and that we really took the time to work with both the city and neighborhood to deliver something that will greatly improve the immediate neighborhood and offer new or existing residents more affordable options in a supply constrained market for new construction.”

Still, the process was arduous, and balancing the needs of both the neighborhood and the city was an art, or as Mense said “tricky.” The approvals process took time to navigate and several meetings. “We were required to present to the Public Commission four times in order to have the project fully approved,” says Mense. “Additionally, we went before West Hollywood's design review sub-committee several times to discuss the design aspects of our project and we conducted several neighborhood meetings to understand the concerns of the neighbors and how we could mitigate those issues.” 

Mense called the approval a “win-win” for the company and the residents, because there is such little class-A inventory in the market. He didn't give information on the planned delivery date or the cost of the development.