We reported earlier today on the KOR Sunset Silver Lake project and the non-involvement of Kelly Wearstler for this project. Au contraire, says another insider. Sorta. It seems just signing her name to the drawings bumps up the price of the project considerably, so the designer is instead "someone close to her office." Our insider explains:
This has always been a tough project for KOR, the site was a mess and the odd topography and resulting parking design means that this building is very, very expensive to build. The deal has always been tough for investor's to swallow and the price points that are being marketed are necessary for a successful project. Kelly's name is not on the deal because her fees are outrageous, even though she's Brad's wife. Putting her name on the drawings costs the project a lot of money in design fees and resulting price creep from subs due to the "star" factor. Although it's not branded as a KWID design it is by someone very close to her office and the products are the exact same being used on Hollywood/Vine and Eastern Columbia, in fact it's the same subcontractors installing the interior finishes on virtually all the KOR projects. So its Wearstler-lite, for the discount price of $750-900k per unit.