Los Angeles has put a stop to work on a 30,000-square-foot spec-megamansion-in-the-making in Bel Air, after developer Mohamed Hadid spent two months foot-dragging instead of making his case for continued construction, reports the LA Times. Angry neighbor/entertainment lawyer Joseph Horacek III has been waging war against the project, saying Hadid illegally demolished the old house and graded the site and is now building a 67-foot house in an area with a 36-foot height limit. (Horacek lives below the site in his own 4,000-square-foot house; he "began bombarding the city with complaints" a few months ago and has nicknamed the house the Starship Enterprise.) The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety found at least some of his complaints valid and halted construction on the project in July, giving Hadid until the end of the month to present revised plans and maps to the city for approval so he could possibly continue working on this monster. Fast forward to this past Wednesday, when the city, "tired of waiting for [Hadid and his associates] to provide us information," finally, officially did some takie-backsies on its building permits.
"As of today, he has no permits. If he wants to continue building he will need to come in and get new permits," a chief inspector with the city tells the Beverly Hills Courier, pointing out that the permits could be awarded again if Hadid submits new applications and the city approves them.
Meanwhile, the house doesn't have to be demolished or anything just because it's unpermitted, so now all those angry neighbors are still kind of screwed because this partially-completed house that has possibly affected the stability of the hill it sits on is still going to be sitting there, weighing on the land indefinitely. Spec megamansions: what could ever go wrong?
· L.A. revokes construction permits for hilltop house in Bel-Air [LAT]
· Permits Officially Revoked at Mohamed Hadid's 901 Strada Vecchia In Bel-Air [BHC]
· Permits Revoked For Notorious, Half-Built Bel Air Megamansion [Curbed LA]
· Spec Megamansion King Goes Modern in Bel Air, Asking $45MM [Curbed LA]
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