The demolition of the disputed mega estate of entrepreneur Mohamed Hadid in Los Angeles could be derailed by “obstructionist bureaucrats” over property tax issues, the court heard on Wednesday.
Douglas Wilson – the successor appointed by a judge to oversee the demolition of the giant house – attacked LA The district tax appraiser’s office for throwing a wrench in the ongoing demolition, first reported exclusively by DailyMail.com last week.
“It’s remarkable that hardened bureaucrats in the appraiser’s office are obstructive,” Wilson told the Los Angeles Supreme Court in Santa Monica. Californiahitting appraisers to estimate Hadid’s half-built mansion at $ 30 million, six times more than it sold last December.
When Sahara Construction bought the property in the prestigious Bel Air for $ 5 million two months ago, they also agreed to pay for its demolition, provided they get back about $ 1.2 million in future property tax refunds.
But that $ 1.2 million is no longer certain.
The demolition finally began at Mohammed Hadid’s notorious mega-mansion in Bel Air last week after years of legal disputes and feuds with neighbors
But the demolition of Hadid’s controversial mega-mansion in Los Angeles could be delayed by “obstructionist bureaucrats” over property tax issues, a court heard today
Douglas Wilson, the trustee appointed by a judge to oversee the demolition, said: “The remarkably entrenched bureaucrats in the appraiser’s office are a hindrance.”
Just before the Sahara bought the huge house, Wilson managed to persuade the Los Angeles Tax Appeals Council to reduce the district’s appraiser’s 2017 appraisal of the property from $ 28.8 million to $ 8.7 million – a tax refund from $ 240,000.
But despite a successful appeal that reduced the value in 2017 to $ 8.7 million – and despite the fact that there have been no improvements to the property since 2017 – Wilson said, the Los Angeles County appraiser insists on the value of the house for four years from 2018 to 2021 is still about $ 30 million a year.
So Wilson had to file new time-consuming complaints against the estimates for those four years.
Wilson called the appraiser’s $ 30 million estimate “mind-boggling” and “absolutely illogical.”
“Any reasonable person could see that the property is becoming more and more worn out and obviously not getting more expensive,” he said.
He criticized the evaluators for forcing him to go through probably many more months of the appeal process, adding: “Delays can interrupt demolition, prolonging public inconveniences and dangers” caused by the illegally built house.
Los Angeles Supreme Court Justice Craig Carlan has scheduled a new hearing for March 29, inviting representatives of the Los Angeles County Tax Appraisers’ Office to attend to try to “mediate” the property tax issue.
Wilson, meanwhile, told the court that – without any delay caused by the tax problem – he intends to complete the demolition by the end of June.
Los Angeles Supreme Court Justice Craig Carlan (pictured during a site visit to Hadid’s mansion) has scheduled a new hearing for March 29, inviting representatives of the Los Angeles County Tax Appraisers’ Office to attend to try to “Mediate” on the issue of property tax
The 73-year-old Palestinian-American tycoon, who is the father of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid, went to trial in Santa Monica last August over the mansion
Destroying the building takes so long, mainly because it is located on top of a steep hill overlooking several houses that would be in the way of any ruins or debris that crash down.
“We are dismantling this house the same way it was built,” Paul Ventura, head of Sahara Construction, told DailyMail.com. “We have to be very careful – we can’t just tear everything down. We need to be much more surgical than that.
So instead of a demolition ball, “we use long-arm hydraulic excavators with special attachments on them to remove the structure more methodically and safely,” he added.
Ventura stressed that the company used “multiple layers of safety” in the demolition project, including strengthening existing fences and installing a network around the site that is strong enough to stop up to £ 20,000 of debris being dumped down the hill.
In addition to the steepness of the hill on which the four-story house is located, the Sahara has to deal with another problem: parts of the giant house that Hadid built without the approval of LA city planners.
Demolition engineers use the original approved plans to dismantle the building, section by section.
But, Ventura added, “Since the original builder (Hadid) did not build it as planned, much of the demolition work is exploratory. We have to carefully lower the walls next to the steel load-bearing beams to see what’s there.
“We are not sure what we will find when, say, we tear down a wall or other part of a structure. Because much of the building is not in the plans.
Demolition of the property is a long-awaited dream for neighbors Joe (pictured) and Bibi Horacek and John and Judy Bedrosyan
What Haid’s house was supposed to look like. His plans include a sophisticated Turkish bathroom full of ornate carvings, colored tiles and marble and mirrored walls.
Hadid plans intricate sculptures for the territory of his now ruined magnificent mansion
It was that secret, unauthorized construction, including a 70-seat IMAX theater and a huge wine cellar, that made the house more than double the 15,000 square feet approved by the city – and led Hadid’s neighbors to sue him.
Joe Horacek, 80, his wife Bibi and two other elderly neighbors, John and Judith Bedrosian, spent four years and $ 9 million in legal fees, according to them, in a civil case against Hadid for the now crumbling colossus, which is ominously above their luxury homes.
Their battle with the 73-year-old Palestinian tycoon – father of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid and star of “True Wives of Beverly Hills” – culminated last September at the end of a civil trial when a Santa Monica jury sentenced Horacek and the Bedrosians. a total of $ 2.9 million.
But it was bittersweet for the neighbors, as it barely covered a third of their attorney’s fees and was only part of the $ 26 million they demanded in compensation.
Hadid has appealed against the $ 2.9 million decision awarded to neighbors by a civil jury.