Mohamed Hadid Downsizes to Updated Beverly Hills Cottage
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Last year, amid a storm of publicity, flamboyant real estate developer Mohamed Hadid sold his $56 million Le Belvedere Bel Air megamansion — also known as the House of Hadid — to British property developers Ian and Richard Livingstone.
The Rolls Royce-driving pop culture figure, who maintains a close friendship with reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump and frequently pops up on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” is, of course, also the father of models/international it girls Bella and Gigi Hadid. Naturally, curious folks speculated about what monster mansion might be next in his famously large-living personal real estate story.
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However, it would seem Hadid finally doesn’t want — or need — another huge house, at least not at the moment. Records reveal he’s opted to significantly downsize his living circumstances by quietly dropping $4.5 million on a modestly-scaled residence in the mountains above Beverly Hills, in a neighborhood of Los Angeles city known as Beverly Hills Post Office.
Although the off-market acquisition doesn’t appear to have been previously reported, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who follows Hadid on social media — the sprightly 70-year-old has posted a slew of photos and videos showing off various parts of his new digs, and it appears his two famous daughters also occasionally visit the premises for family time and such.
Interestingly, a peek at records reveals the house was purchased from a longtime Hadid business associate, who himself picked up the property just one year ago for about $4.3 million from Tanya Moreland King, a woman who is currently facing up to 117 years in prison for allegedly masterminding a $40 million medical insurance fraud scheme.
Sited on a barely-there cul-de-sac just off the main Coldwater Canyon drag, the .6-acre property is one of only three homes on the wee little street, the other two both owned by non-famous folks. Hadid’s new mini-estate is supremely private, the house surrounded by a towering wall, mature hedges, and an almost cartoonisly massive wooden front gate that shields the residence from public view.
Beyond the gate, a short driveway spills into a sizable motorcourt with off-street parking for at least a half-dozen vehicles, and there’s also a two-car attached garage. Built in 1955, the midcentury ranch-style structure looks positively quaint in exterior shots, with two short hedgerows flanking the walkway to the low-slung abode’s front door. But inside, the once-traditional decor has clearly been renovated to within an edge of its life, everything replaced with an ultra-mod palette of blacks, whites and dark grays.
There are formal living and dining rooms, each with tile floors and vaulted ceilings; the spacious kitchen boasts trendy dark brown hardwood floors, quartzite countertops and a slew of high-end stainless appliances; there’s also a glassy walk-in wine closet, a fully wood-paneled library and cavernous family/media room decorated rather spartanly with just one extra-big sofa. The approximately 4,300 sq. ft. house sports three — or four, depending on where you look online — bedrooms, the master including a wall of windows, vaulted ceiling, private access to the outdoor gardens, a renovated master bath with his/her vanities and built-in soaking tub, and a boutique style dressing room.
Outside, the tree-shaded backyard borders a spectacular old-growth forest and features a football field-sized patch of grass, broad patios for lounging and al fresco dining, a firepit and gurgling fountain. The property does not, it would appear, currently possess a swimming pool, though there is a wee detached office/art studio tucked into a corner of the lot as some form of compensation.
Though he’s living far more modestly now, Hadid has not abandoned his megamansion projects altogether — in recent years, he’s been frequently in the news for legal troubles related to another spec-mansion he is building in Bel Air. The half-finished house, which has now been under construction for at least six years, has been the target of fierce opposition from neighbors, who have not-so-fondly christened the project “Starship Enterprise” and accused Hadid of building a structure far bigger than legally permitted. In 2017, Hadid pleaded no contest to criminal charges related to the construction and was sentenced to probation and community service. His neighbors, meanwhile, have launched their own website, www.tearitdown.net, dedicated to halting the “brazenly illegal” project.
For his part, this is far from Hadid’s first time on the real estate rodeo — he’s been developing extravagant L.A. properties for many years. Besides Le Belvedere, he also built Le Palais, an almost unbelievably opulent Beverly Hills megamansion that was sold back in 2013 for about $33 million to Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, the former international diplomat who is the younger daughter of Uzbekistan’s late dictator Islam Karimov. And back in 2010, Hadid sold another palatial house in Beverly Hills’ Trousdale Estates enclave for $17.5 million to fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low.
Launch Gallery: Mohamed Hadid's Cottage Above Beverly Hills
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