Beverly West condominium tower

The Beverly West condominium tower was developed by Emaar Properties. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / October 19, 2012)

By Roger Vincent

October 21, 2012, 11:20 a.m.

A long-awaited luxury condominium tower developed by giant United Arab Emirates real estate company Emaar Properties has opened near the Los Angeles Country Club.

Emaar Properties bought the 22-story Beverly West tower at Wilshire Boulevard and Comstock Avenue for $65 million in 2007 while it was under construction by a previous developer. The housing market crashed soon afterward in the economic downturn.

Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar, kept the property off the market until earlier this year, said Dario De Luca, president of the company’s Los Angeles operations. One of the Beverly West’s 35 units was sold in March for $5 million.

Prices for the remaining units range from $1.5 million to $22.4 million.

The building at 1200 Club View Drive was designed by Los Angeles architect Richard Keating, whose projects include the Gas Company Tower office building in downtown Los Angeles and numerous residential high-rises.

The Beverly West is intended to have a “timeless” look, Keating said.

“Our city is one of many images, architectural styles and periods, so it has been our desire to seek an architecture that remains quiet from a standpoint of form, and achieves its visual richness through detailing, materials and the play of light across the texture of the building,” he said.

Beverly West cost more than $325 million to build, Emaar Properties said. The company also developed the world’s tallest building, the 160-story Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

There is a small but potent demand for ultra-luxury condos in the region, said Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA. Prospective owners are wealthy enough not to feel buffeted by the economy and often own multiple homes.

“Like New York, like Tokyo, like London, like Paris, Los Angeles is an international superstar city,” he said. “There will be a demand among buyers that come from all over the world for a very high-end project.”