McMansion out, giga mansion in! Beverly Hills and Bel Air in Los Angeles are now starting to become sites for the so-called giga mansions that could size from 20,000 square feet to a staggering 90,000 square feet. High-end developers are seeing the gateway for ginormous sized properties and they are willing to build them for whoever who can afford. But residents of the said neighborhoods are not so happy with the sudden spur of these extravagant homes that are popping up on street after street, ABC News reports.
Mohamad Hadid, the mega real estate developer and ex-husband of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" Yolanda Foster and father of model Gigi Hadid has worked with the uber-rich in developing luxury hotels and homes. He himself is living in a 50,000square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills that has a 300-seat ballroom, a Turkish bath, a large infinity pool, a wine cellar, a home theater, and a 5,000-square-foot guest suite.
According to Hadid, a new generation of global billionaires are behind the construction boom.
"There is a need for it," Hadid said. "And there are customers asking for it... they want to have a splash, to have 200-300 people at a party, they need to have several bar areas, an outdoor area, something specific about the house that is different than anyone else."
However, residents, such as Hollywood star Jennifer Aniston, whose house is roughly 8,500 square feet, think of these giga-constructions as giga-invasions. Attorney to the stars Joe Horacek share the same sentiment with Hadid's current construction just yards away from his front door.
"I feel the privacy is completely and totally gone," Horace said.
For 15 years, Horacek said to have lived a quiet life in the hills until the house above him was bought, tore down, and excavation and construction began to make way for two wine cellars, a movable bar, and a wrap-around infinity pool.
"Personally I see the Starship Enterprise," Horacek said. "I get very angry."
He worries to one day see an avalanche of cement, wood, and steel crumbling down to his house.
"[My] biggest concern is a combination of the total invasion of privacy, the total disregard which I believe Mohamed Hadid has for the building code... and for the safety of living beneath it," he said.
For real estate expert David Kramer, the trend all started after TV producer Aaron Spelling's 56,000-square-foot home sold for $85 million.
"People saw the reality of, we have buyers here," he said.
"Everyone thinks it's foreign buyers, it's everybody," Kramer said. "It's local, it's entertainment, it's hedge fund, banking, computer, definitely, technology people, and then a lot of foreign buyers. Probably 30-40 percent are foreign buyers."
A Bel-Air Homeowners Alliance was recently founded by Fred Rosen, the man behind Ticketmaster, and he raises the issue to the City of Los Angeles and questions how they have allowed over one million cubic yards of dirt dug out of the hills around Bel-air to make way for the larger, luxurious homes.
"You have 1980s rules for 2015 technology," Rosen said. "There's always somebody with more, so that's not the issue, we just want them building safely."
