Mohamed Hadid's Mansion Is Being Demolished For A Controversial Reason

Mohamed Hadid — the father of famous models Bella and Gigi Hadid, as well as the ex-husband of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" alum Yolanda Hadid — has been pretty successful himself thanks to his career in real estate development. That's why he was able to become the owner of the kind of abode that rivals the most expensive celebrity homes in the U.S. as well as other super-pricey residences in Bel-Air. That's also why it's so staggering to see his former mansion torn down. 

Spanning 30,000 square feet, per People, the Daily Mail notes that the home was once projected to be worth $100 million. Of course, that was before plans were set to rip up the interior, cut up sections of the building, and haul away the debris. With only 60 days to clear the site, Sahara Construction Co. project manager Nasim Karawia told the Daily Mail, "I think we'll be able to finish in that time ... We're hoping that by the end of this week, we'll finish removing the top floor — apart from the main steel beams that support the whole structure. But the top floor is the easy part." The project manager went on to say that the "rest of house though, the concrete, the support caissons (piles), the steel structural beams, will take a lot longer to bring down."

But why is it being torn down in the first place? Well, it turns out that this house was totally controversial for a seriously scary reason!

"I can assure you that when this building is complete, it will be one of the most beautiful homes in Bel-Air, if not the country," Mohamed Hadid's attorney Robert Shapiro said in July 2017, according to the Los Angeles Times. He also explained that they were "interested in one thing and one thing only ... bringing this building into compliance."

That's because there were some serious issues when it came to whether or not proper permits had been obtained after Hadid bought the property in 2011, and proceeded to build the gigantic 30,000-square-foot mansion — when he had only been granted permission to build something that wasn't nearly as big, per Dirt. Sitting on just 1.22 acres which happen to be on the side of a hill, other residents in the area were worried that the building wasn't securely situated and was putting other homes in danger.

Hadid initially seemed determined to save the home, but after facing a criminal charge, lawsuit, and other surely unpleasant issues, Hadid said he couldn't afford to tear down the mansion (via Dirt). He then sold the property in December 2021, according to People. Handing it over to Sahara Construction Co., they paid $5 million for the once-spectacular home, but had no intention of fixing it. Part of the agreement when they bought the property was to have the mansion removed just nine months after the sale went through — and that's just what they've done.