Supermodels’ father must demolish house
THE property tycoon father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid has been ordered by a judge to demolish his halfbuilt $100million (£78million) Bel Air mega-mansion, which has been dubbed the “Starship Enterprise”.
Mohamed Hadid has been involved in a long legal battle over the palatial 30,000 sq ft residence after neighbours complained about its size.
A judge in Los Angeles Superior Court decided that it was a “clear and present danger” to other properties in the area.
The ruling came after a structural engineer said supporting piles were not driven far enough into the ground underneath the hillside property.
The judge said: “If this house came down the hill, it would take a portion of the neighbourhood with it.”
Following the ruling, Mr Hadid told the TMZ news website that the house “has not moved a millimetre. It has never been an imminent danger to the neighbours”.
He also claimed many city inspectors had monitored the construction process since it began in 2012, and concerns were not raised until years later.
The court heard demolition would take six months and cost several million dollars. It was the latest development in a long saga over the project, which was to include an Imax cinema.
Mr Hadid hoped to ultimately sell the mansion for a nine-figure sum. In 2017, he told Town & Country magazine: “Demolish this house? Never. This house will last forever. Bel Air will fall before this house will.”
The same year, he was sentenced to three years’ probation and 200 hours of community service after pleading no contest to three charges of violating building regulations.
Several neighbours sued Mr Hadid, claiming that they lived in “constant fear” of the hillside collapsing, and that their “privacy and serenity was invaded by the illegal and unsightly structure looming above them”.
Mr Hadid responded that he was the victim of a “witch hunt”, and the neighbours’ claims were “total nonsense”.