Mohamed Hadid’s $50MILLION Bel Air mega-mansion is reduced to rubble after years of legal wrangling

After being held up in various court battles, Mohamed Hadid’s Bel Air $50million megamansion is finally being demolished, piece by piece.  

Pictures show the multimillion dollar home now slowly being reduced to a very expensive pile of rubble.  

Hadid, the father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, purchased the lot in 2011 and quickly began construction cramming a 30,000-square-foot house onto the 1.22-acre lot. 

But the home’s dimensions were a lot larger and taller than city rules permit – and double the 15,000-square-feet he was given planning permission for.

Neighbors then took Hadid to court fearing the estate might slide down the steep hillside and crush the homes below.

Sahara Construction bought the property in December and agreed to pay the $5 million costs for knocking it down with the hope of making the money back through a future resale and a special tax break.

Demolition work began last month after Sahara Construction bought the property in December and agreed to pay the $5 million costs for knocking it down

Mohamed Hadid sold the homes for $8.5 million after he was ordered to demolish the estate over safety concerns

A rendering of the home posted to Instagram shows what might have been had the building work been allowed to continue 

Various construction vehicles including a cherry picked and bulldozer are seen at the demolition site

Mohamed Hadid, 73, sold his half-built Bel Air mega-mansion that is being demolished in May 2021

Hadid, 73, sold the home for $8.5 million after he was ordered to demolish the estate over safety concerns, the New York Post reported. 

At one point Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Craig D. Karlan declared the hulking structure to be torn down calling it a ‘danger to the public’. 

The gargantuan property, which had increasingly become a weight around Hadid’s neck, had mushroomed over a decade into the construction into the $50 million estate, according to various reports. 

Hadid, a purported billionaire, had argued in court in 2019 that he was so broke he could not afford the $5million it would take to tear it down after his own architect said he was worried the building ‘will slide down the hill and kill someone.’

Hadid’s own architect had said he was worried the building ‘will slide down the hill and kill someone’

The home, which sold for $8.5 million in May 2021, is now costing the company that bought it $5 million to demolish

The company is using ‘multiple layers of safety’ in the demolition project, including strengthening existing fencing and installing netting around the site that’s strong enough to stop up to 20,000 pounds of debris from hurtling down the hill

Neighbors have long held concerns that the entire construction would ‘slide down the hillside’ crushing homes below

Hadid sold the home for $8.5 million after he was ordered to demolish the estate over safety concerns

Several workers can be seen working on the delicate operation to demolish the megamansion 

California’s Supreme Court rejected the real estate tycoon’s appeal to review his case to overturn the decision to tear the home down last summer – calling the property a ‘clear and present danger’ to his neighbors.   

The half-finished mansion was situated on Strada Vecchia Road in the ‘sought-after’ neighborhood of Lower Bel Air and is surrounded by some of the city’s ‘most celebrated estates,’ the listing read.

Hadid had started out building the mansion, on spec – without a buyer arranged – about 10 years ago, according to Los Angeles Magazine. 

The listing called it ‘a rare opportunity to build a world class estate featuring views of the city and surrounding canyon.’

The home, located near the exclusive Bel Air Country Club as well as’ the world-renowned restaurants and boutiques of downtown Beverly Hills.’

Destroying the building is taking some time  mainly because its position atop the steep hill overlooking several homes that would be in the path of any rubble or debris crashing downward.

From above it appears very little remains of the residence, but there are still three story’s to be removed

Hadid’s 30,000-square-foot mega-mansion has almost been demolished with the pile of rubble growing

At one stage there were plans for the building to be a $150 million mega mansion which Hadid planned to sell on

Destroying the building is a delicate operation with the property sitting atop a steep hill overlooking several homes

Gigi Hadid, Mohamed Hadid and Bella Hadid attend the Victoria’s Secret After Party at the Grand Palais on November 30, 2016 in Paris, France

‘We are unbuilding this house the same way it was built,’ Paul Ventura, boss of Sahara Construction, told DailyMail.com last month. ‘We have to be very careful – we can’t just smash everything down. We have to be a lot more surgical than that.

‘So instead of a wrecking ball, we’re using hydraulic excavators with long arms with special attachments on them to take down the structure more methodically and safely, ‘ he added.

Ventura stressed that the company is using ‘multiple layers of safety’ in the  demolition project, including strengthening existing fencing and installing netting around the site that’s strong enough to stop up to 20,000 pounds of debris from hurtling down the hill.

In addition to the steepness of the hill the four-story house sits on, Sahara has to deal with another problem: the parts of the giant house that Hadid built without approval from LA city planners.

The demolition engineers are using the original approved plans to dismantle the building, section by section.

But, added Ventura, ‘Because the original builder (Hadid) did not build it according to the plans, a lot of the demolition work is exploratory. We have to carefully take down the walls to the steel supporting beams to see what’s there.

‘We’re not sure what we’re going to find when we, say, take down a wall or another part of the structure. Because a lot of the building is not on the plans.’

Instead of a wrecking ball, ‘we’re using hydraulic excavators with long arms with special attachments on them to take down the structure more methodically and safely’ the demolition company explained

The demolition engineers are using the original approved plans to dismantle the building, section by section

The home was supposed to have included a 70-seat IMAX theater and a huge wine cellar, that made the house grow to more than twice the 15,000 square feet the city had approved 

Hadid, a purported billionaire, had argued in court in 2019 that he was so broke he ‘could not afford’ the $5million it would take to tear it down