A $5-million crash landing for mega-mansion
The infamous project dubbed “the Starship Enterprise” is sold and will be torn down.
After a half-decade of court battles, the half-finished mega-mansion of developer Mohamed Hadid has sold at auction for $5 million. Next, it will be destroyed.
Hadid, a reality TV regular and father to models Bella and Gigi, bought the property in 2011 and quickly got to work cramming a 30,000-square-foot house onto the 1.22-acre lot. It was both bigger and taller than city rules allowed. At the time, he boasted that the house would last forever.
Bel-Air neighbors feared the code-violating estate would slide down the hill and crush the homes below. They took him to court, where an L.A. County judge declared the hulking structure a “danger to the public” and ordered it to be torn down.
After a failed attempt to stop the destruction by declaring bankruptcy, the company tied to Hadid was eventually forced to put it on the market for $8.5 million. With no takers, the price was eventually lowered to $5.5 million before it was auctioned off for $5 million by Premiere Estates Auction Co.
Records show the buyer is Sahara Construction Co. Proceeds from the sale were originally supposed to fund the property’s demolition, but because the winning bid came in short of the listing price, Sahara agreed to foot the bill.
Todd Wohl, co-founder of Premiere Estates, estimated a complete tear-down will take four months.
Dubbed “the Starship Enterprise” by disgruntled neighbors, the four-story mansion features a curved exterior that swoops across the steep hillside lot. Hadid’s original plans called for a 70seat Imax theater and huge wine cellar, as well as a series of bedrooms and decks that were never approved by the city.
The FBI has looked into possible wrongdoing by a city inspector who received
“items of value” in connection with his work at the BelAir site, according to a city investigator who testified in a 2018 civil case.
A year later, after the home was ordered to be torn down, Hadid’s lawyer said he couldn’t afford a $500,000 fee tied to the home’s demolition. Earlier this year, he listed an 80,000-square-foot compound on 38 acres in Beverly Hills for $250 million.
Burger heiress sells for a small fortune
The city of Bradbury just saw its priciest sale in years when Lynsi Snyder, owner and heiress of the In-N-Out Burger chain, sold her Mediterranean mansion for $16.25 million.
It chalks up as a loss for Snyder, who bought the nearly 19,000-square-foot home from former Dodgers star Adrián Beltré for $17.21 million in 2012. She first f lipped it onto the market for $19.8 million in 2017 before dropping the price to $16.8 million earlier this year, records show.
The lavish estate spans
more than 4 acres in Bradbury Estates, a guard-gated community a few miles from Baldwin Park, where Snyder’s grandparents founded the first In-N-Out in 1948.
Situated near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the mansion is a study in luxury and excess. Every space is palatial, from
the grand portico entry to the chandelier-topped foyer with dual staircases.
Elsewhere are 11 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a chef’s kitchen with two islands, game room, movie theater, gym and 3,400square-foot recreation room. The main house includes a six-car garage, and
the three-bedroom guesthouse adds a garage for two more cars.
Manicured gardens and rolling lawns fill out the scenic exterior, which keeps the amenities coming with a swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court and two-hole golf course complete with a sand trap.
Loggias line the space below, and a series of decks and balconies overlook the palmtopped grounds.
A native of Glendora, Snyder is the president and owner of In-N-Out Burger, which has 358 locations across California and the Southwest. Forbes puts her net worth at $4.2 billion.
Joseph Chiovare and Ronald Chang of Coldwell Banker Realty held the listing.
Happy ending for ‘Cinderella’ star
Less than a year after her Hollywood Hills villa was burglarized, singer Camila Cabello has sold the place for $4.3 million.
It’s a happy ending for the “Cinderella” star, who paid $3.375 million for the 1970s abode in 2019. She got $350,000 more than her asking price, finding a buyer in less than two weeks.
Heavy on charm, the property opens with a private courtyard and white stucco exterior strewn with ivy. Wrought iron lines the doorway, leading to designer spaces with tile floors, walls of glass and colorful fireplaces.
During her two-year stay, Cabello converted a guest bedroom into a recording studio and added a vocal booth in the garage. After the break-in, she also installed security cameras, an alarm and intercom system throughout the 3,570square-foot floor plan.
The lot is less than a sixth of an acre but manages to squeeze in a variety of outdoor spaces. Pocketing doors open directly to a saltwater swimming pool behind the home, and multiple balconies and an elevated lounge overlook the flowery space. There’s also a dining patio, fire pit, fireplace and lantern-topped loggia with an outdoor kitchen.
Denise Rosner of Compass held the listing. Scott Moore of Douglas Elliman represented the buyer.
Cabello, 24, found fame as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which competed on the reality competition show “The X Factor.” As a solo artist, she has received three Grammy nominations and won two Latin Grammys with the hits “Havana” and “Never Be the Same.”