Mohamed Hadid Will Not Stop Building the Most Illegal Megamansion in Bel Air

Developer of giant ostentatious displays of glassy wealth Mohamed Hadid plays by his own rules. Revoke his permits to build a 30,000-square-foot megamansion in Bel Air that is possibly destabilizing the hillside and endangering the homes below it? Whatever. Hand him a stop work order on that same disaster mansion? A joke. Last fall, Hadid was told he needed to resubmit paperwork, get new permits for the project, and cease all work on the place at 901 Strada Vecchia until new permits came through. But instead, he just kept building, playing a very expensive game of chicken with the city, says the LA Times. They're on to him, and now the LA Department of Building and Safety says he's got to get rid of all the stuff he illegally built. It's a lot.

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Hadid was "pretty much caught red-handed" engaging in illegal construction, says an LADBS rep, and now he has 15 days to remove the unpermitted work. He could try to get permits retroactively for the stuff he's done, but an attorney for one neighbor who's been battling this project (there are many) notes that would be hard to do because most of the things recently and illegally built are actually in violation of zoning code anyway. Some of the surreptitious additions include two levels of concrete decks, three giant retaining walls, and a full story below the basement. Hadid also tweaked his approved floor plans, adding height to every floor of the house above what had been greenlit by the city Planning Department.

Hadid's lawyer claims that this construction was all done with the LADBS's blessing, after the builder was ordered to stop, because it was necessary keep the project safe from rain. That might be true for the retaining walls, since this project has already caused mudslides that ran into neighbors' backyards, but how does the addition of a sub-basement floor help an unfinished house when those torrential SoCal rains hit? The lawyer went on to say that many other violations were just "technical stuff" that Hadid had said he'd do after the stop work order was removed.

If Hadid does as Hadid is wont to do and simply continues to ignore the LADBS, department officials could try to have the city attorney file (misdemeanor) criminal charges.