Los Angeles building inspectors have ordered the developer of a controversial hilltop mansion in Bel-Air to demolish and remove all unapproved construction — including concrete decks, retaining walls and other features that they say were completed in violation of a stop-work order, it was reported today.
“He was pretty much caught red-handed,” Luke Zamperini, chief inspector for the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, told the Los Angeles Times. “He’s got to either get permits for what he has done or demolish the illegal construction.”
In September, building officials revoked the project’s permits, effectively shutting down construction, after a resident who lives below contended that grading and other activity had destabilized the slope, according to The Times.
Since then, other neighbors of the project at 901 Strada Vecchia reported several times to city officials that celebrity developer Mohamed Hadid was continuing construction on the 30,000-square-foot, multi-level house, in violation of the stop-work order, the newspaper reported.
Inspectors who visited the property on Monday noted a laundry list of violations, including the addition of wiring, cabinetry, a concrete slab in the driveway and steel-stud partitions in the garage to create office and storage space, The Times reported.
They also cited far more serious examples of unpermitted construction, including the addition of two levels of irregularly shaped concrete decks, an entire story below basement level and three large retaining walls. The inspectors also listed a dozen changes that had been made to the floor plan, including increases in the height of each floor of the main structure “beyond the scope of approved plans,” according to The Times.
The owner of the property is 901 Strada LLC. An attorney for 901 Strada said construction completed after issuance of the stop-work order was done to protect the exposed house from rain, with the building and safety department’s approval, The Times reported.
