JUSTICE AGAINST THE RICH - DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN! - JUDGE ORDERS $100 MILLION DOLLAR BEL AIR MANSION PULLED DOWN

Judge orders father of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid to pull down $100 million Bel Air mega-mansion

The Telegraph•November 23, 2019

 

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Judge orders father of Hadid models to pull down $100 million Bel Air mega-mansion

The property tycoon father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid has been ordered by a judge to demolish his half-built $100 million 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 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 TMZ the house "has not moved a millimetre! It has never been an imminent danger to the neighbours."

The unfinished mega-mansion has been dubbed the

He also said 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, a property developer, hoped to ultimately sell the mansion for nine figures.

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 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."

The property developer is the father of supermodel Bella Hadid and her sister Gigi Credit: E-PRESS / BACKGRID UK

Mr Hadid responded that he was the victim of "witch hunt" and the neighbours' claims were "total nonsense."