This article was written by Matt Lopez and published by the Beverly Hills Courier
Bel-Air neighbors allege that construction work is continuing at Mohamed Hadid’s sprawling megamansion at 901 Strada Vecchia, despite the fact that its permits have been revoked by the city of Los Angeles.
On Sept. 9, the L.A. Department of Building and Safety ruled that 901 Strada Vecchia’s building permits had been issued in violation of the L.A. Municipal Code. The LADBS found that unpermitted grading and demolishing took place without a permit and that the site’s natural grade was misrepresented in order to permit a project that exceeded the LADBS building code’s height limit.
901 Strada Vecchia neighbor Joseph Horacek, however, says the ruling hasn’t deterred Hadid. Horacek, who led the charge to have the project more thoroughly studied by the city of L.A., had one of his attorney’s, Todd Nelson, fire off a letter to LADBS General Manager Ray Chan on Sept. 29, notifying the LADBS of continuing construction activity at the site.
Horacek’s letter alleges “the applicant has continually performed illegal consruction work on the project for several months in complete disregard of the multiple stop-work orders issued by LADBS...The applicant cannot be allowed to simply ignore the city’s laws for any longer.”
The letter continues that Horacek, and other neighbors, have been able to “easily observe the Applicant’s unpermitted construction activities from vantage points located on the public right of way and from neighboring properties.”
According to the letter, the work continuing at the site includes: “large groups of workers entering and leaving the site by car and truck, the operation of powered construction equipment inside and outside the half-built project, the cutting of stone facade material...the installation of new windows and sliding glass doors, and the placement of rebar material.”
LADBS Chief Inspector Luke Zamperini told The Courier on Thursday that the project has been “visited by an inspector 25 times in the last 30 days” with no violations found and that “we would not be very happy if we found illegal work going on up there. If they’re doing anything, we’re going to catch them.”
Zamperini said that while “no continuation of any construction” is allowed at the site, workers could be there “preparing the site for the coming rainy season” or doing things like watering the project’s greenery.