A West Hollywood developer background check requirement goes before the City Council Monday, with Councilmember Lauren Meister saying the council has a fiduciary duty to know who it’s doing business with on major development deals. Right now there’s nothing requiring that.
The item, brought forward by Meister, would require applicants for Development Agreements and Specific Plans to submit standardized background information as part of their application: company structure, ownership interests of 25 percent or more, financing capacity, and a track record of prior projects.
“It’s to protect the City,” Meister said in an interview with WEHOonline.
What the Item Does — and Doesn’t Do
Meister said some of the discussion ahead of the vote has missed what the item actually is.
“Development Agreements are discretionary decisions. They are not givens,” she said. “This has nothing to do with projects that just go for standard approvals. This is for projects asking for something special and an agreement between a developer and the city — a contract. What it says is, we would like you to provide this information so council members and the public can be informed.”
The information would be included in the City Council staff report when an application comes to a vote. What happens from there is up to each council member.
“It is up to the City Council members to read it or not read it, and ask questions or not ask questions at the time of a public hearing,” she said. “But they should at least have the information.”
Meister said objections about exposing private financial records misread the item entirely.
“It’s not personal,” she said. “We’re not asking for personal information. But if they choose to do an LLC, we have a right to know — the public, the council, and staff — who is involved in applying for a contract for a development agreement that is providing benefits they would not otherwise have.”
She said the standard being set is not unusual in any other context where money and contracts are involved.
“Do they give that information to a bank going for a loan? If they want to get financing, they’re going to have to provide that information,” she said. “We are literally going into a contract with you. You are helping to increase the value of a property by millions and millions of dollars. We ask more information of someone going for a mortgage, or even leasing a car.”
To those who say the item is just another hurdle placed in front of developers trying to build in West Hollywood, Meister’s answer is direct.
“It’s not a hurdle,” she said. “There’s nothing being asked that is changing the criteria to be able to get the development agreement. All it is is asking for [is] background information — basically, what projects have you worked on in the past that are saying to us that you are capable of doing this project?” She said requiring the information is the council doing its due diligence before entering a contract worth millions.
Backdrop
The need for that due diligence is visible in several spots across West Hollywood.
Faring Capital is behind two of the City’s most prominent stalled projects: Robertson Lane and the French Market. The City Council approved a nine-story, 241-room hotel for Robertson Lane in 2018, along with retail, restaurants, and restoration of the historic Factory building. Faring scaled the project back in 2021 and got a new approval in 2022. The entitlements expired in June 2025. The site has sat as a vacant hole in the ground for nearly nine years.
The French Market at 7985 Santa Monica Boulevard followed the same arc. Faring received City approval in 2019, held a ceremonial groundbreaking in 2022 with all five council members holding shovels, then let its entitlements expire. Meister called the project “dead” from the dais in February 2024.
Former Councilmember John D’Amico wrote that Faring “evicted all the tenants and left the businesses that served our community vacant, creating blight in the heart of our community for a decade.”
The Melrose Triangle project at 9040-9098 Santa Monica Boulevard told a different but equally familiar story. Approved in 2014, it dragged on for a decade. Workers dug a massive hole for underground parking. Entitlements expired in March 2024. Groundwater filled the pit. Residents called it “Lake WeHo.” The City drained roughly a million gallons into the sewer. The developer, Charles Co., had its own complications — including jail time for principal Arman Gabaee.
At the February 2025 council meeting where Melrose Triangle’s fate was confirmed, Meister called for developers to use their real names instead of operating under LLCs in City reports. That sentiment is directly embedded in Monday’s item.
A seven-story, 116-room hotel proposed for 1040 La Brea is also on the verge of losing its entitlements, according to WEHOonline’s reporting on stalled projects citywide.
The Counterargument
Some in the development community argue the City itself creates conditions that doom projects. Long approval timelines, evolving design requirements, West Hollywood’s minimum wage requirements, and changing market conditions between entitlement and construction can make an approved project unworkable years later, they say.
The item does not address any of those conditions. It doesn’t change the approval timeline, the criteria for receiving a Development Agreement, or what happens once a project is approved.
What it does is put information in front of the council before a vote.
No Opposition on Record
Meister said the agenda went public Wednesday afternoon, and anyone with questions or concerns could have contacted her directly. She said she received a phone call from a representative of the Realtors Association and the conversation ended without opposition to the item.
If approved Monday, the new requirements would take effect for applications submitted on or after January 1, 2027. Staff would develop standardized disclosure forms and include the submitted information in council staff reports going forward.
“This would be part of the initial application,” Meister said. “Whoever is helping you fill out that application at the beginning — once it’s done, it’s done. Staff doesn’t do anything with that information except include it in the staff report.”
Meister said the question answers itself.
“Why wouldn’t you want transparency?” she said. “This is all about transparency.”
• The Real Housing Problem in West Hollywood? Approved Projects That Never Get Built
• Former Council Member John D’Amico: Faring Capital Cannot Be Trusted on Robertson Lane
• “Lake WeHo” to Be Filled In
• West Hollywood Planning Commission Brown Act Speech Highlights Transparency Concerns Over Housing Streamlining
• West Hollywood Planning Commission Housing Approvals Vote Removes Itself From the Process
The City must require developers to provide a definitive month and year for the completion of a project. If the date is not met, then the developer must be subject to serious fines for every day the agreed to completion date is not met.
I’m probably going to catch sh*t for this, but, a few notes. We had a pandemic, office space needs cratered, and hotels became oversaturated. I surmise Faring had good intentions, but things changed. They did save and restored The Factory/Studio One and even expanded the footprint of Robertson Lane to give that structure the needed space to put over 80% of the modular designed warehouse back on site. The French Market Place was a failing business when purchased from owner Michael Faze, and I worked diligently with Faring to save the building: it was also an office project, so the… Read more »
Evolving is one thing, but Jake Stevens is lost in the Cro-Magnon age, no disrespect to that era. Watch the video of the City Council meeting. He acted like a lunatic. Heilman had to reprimand him for his behavior.
If Faring were to apply in future under an updated application process, and we had a less bought-by-developers city council, I doubt they’d make the cut.
So, how many more years will the boarded up French Market be a blight on our urban landcape? 3,2,1 go!
Stop the rotating mayor game. One mayor for a certain term and let them get some work done like Meisiter
We have needed zoning reform in West Hollywood for decades. The amount of developer money in our campaign cycles is excessive. And now we have the wreckage of abandoned construction sites. Its time to reform the process. Thank you to Council Member Miester for bringing this to the table.
We are seeing a disturbing trend where historic LGBTQ+ anchors are being treated as disposable by developers such as Faring. This includes the now-shuttered French Market Restaurant, the iconic Factory/Studio One (currently disassembled and in storage), and now the proposed demolition of the gay-friendly, health-oriented Brick Gym being appealed at the Monday, April 6 City Council meeting.(item C1 on the agenda). These sites represent the evolution of our community and must be protected as cultural capital. What’s even more alarming is that three gay members of the City Council seem just fine with allowing the Faring developer to destroy these… Read more »
I enjoyed many a meal at the FMP back in the’70s. A window seat had the added benefit of seeing who was going in or out of the Rusty Nail across the street! Seriously though, background checks on prospective “developers” is a necessity these days. You never know when you’ll get wrapped around the axle by a con man developer…like Donnie tЯump!
I agree with Meister. But can anyone explain what entitlements are allotted to developers? And just a reminder, the building City Council approved on Sunset and La Cienega, the developers had more money than the city, and the city had to approve a 10-year deal for short-term rentals because the rents they were asking were so astronomical that no one could afford to rent there. The city couldn’t afford to fight them.
But the CIty can afford the $2 billion to have Metro Rail come through WeHo?
That this type of background check is not already required is hugely ridiculous and really places the city as an accomplice to the negligence of the developers that have shaken down this city and stripped it of its history, left it desolate in places and laughed all the way to the bank. That anyone on the city council or city bureaucracy would oppose this check should be removed from office. Follow the damn money.
Lauren Meister is a gem.
This is a common sense proposal that provides for financial transparency and a basic pillar of the crucial information that the Council, on behalf of the citizenry, requires in responsible decision making. Thank you, Lauren Meister.
Just makes sense. Thank you Lauren for pursuing transparency in development, when you could just be coasting to the finish of a long City Council tenure wholly dedicated to actually serving the residents of West Hollywood.
Lauren Meister seems to be the only person on council who truly understands her fiduciary duty to the city. All I can ask of those who question this bit of common-sense government is: why are you afraid of full transparency? Let’s all operate in sunshine.
Wonder how the ChatGPT council member will “debate” this.
All the more reason to vote in November and replace Chelsea Byers who is a tool of John Erickson who is anti-transparency and pro-awful developers like Faring. It’s time for new leadership in West Hollywood. Get to know the candidates. There is some solid talent running.