Saudi Royal trying to build 85,000 sq ft home in Beverly Hills-draws ire of neighbors (Los Angeles: fit in)

[18Montclair]

I wanna see renderings of it first.

The neighborhood is home to Jay Leno, David Beckham, Bruce Springsteen, Lisa Kudrow and Michael Ovitz. Residents say the compound's size — a 42,681-square-foot house, a 27,000-square-foot villa, a guest house, staff quarters and a gatehouse — doesn't fit in with the neighborhood of stately mansions.

"The pool house is bigger than my house," Michael Eisenberg, a neighbor, said.

When Martha Karsh first saw the plans to build 85,000 square feet of new buildings, she assumed there was a typo.
"I thought, that can't be right. It must be 8,500, not 85,000 square feet," of new construction, she said. But as she dug deeper, the scale of the compound became clear, while the identity of the property's future residents is still a mystery.

The person who bought the 5.2 acre hillside lot for $12 million set up a business, Tower Lane Properties, Inc. in London, hired lawyers and contractors and made them sign secrecy agreements.

The property is rumored to be the future home of Saudi royalty. Mansour Fustok — King Abdullah's former brother-in-law and the uncle of one of the king's sons, according to the Los Angeles Times — is listed on city planning documents as president of Tower Lane Properties. The documents list Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Inc. as the law firm involved in the development; attorneys with the firm have previously represented companies owned by Saudi royal family members, the Times reported.

Residents of wealthy 90210 neighborhood fight planned 85,000 sq. ft. mega-mansion | StarTribune.com (http://www.startribune.com/nation/118447274.html - broken link)

[steel7]

The saudis thank you all for purchasing oil at a premium so they can afford such luxury.

[sjnative]

What a vulgarity that thing is going to be- totally out of scale with its surroundings.

I'm surprised there aren't zoning laws that prevent this from happening.

[stan4]

Kinda funny considering those BH types are all about getting away with doing anything because they're rich.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[bmw335xi]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing!

[Count David]

♫ O'er the land of the free ♫

[18Montclair]

Well, I'll reserve my judgement until I see how its gonna look. Maybe half of it is underground?

But knowing those Middle Eastern oligarchs, its probably gonna look like a gaudy Casino. LOL.

[Fontucky]

I can only imagine the hideous color they'd paint it.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

I can only imagine the hideous color they'd paint it.

I wonder if they'll put up "life-like" statues like Mohammed al-Fassi did at his funky green mansion back in the early 1980s? When he passed away back in 2002, that was the main thing he was remembered for...
Mohammed al-Fassi, 50 - Upset Beverly Hills Over House - Obituary; Biography - NYTimes.com

[Fontucky]

"Two years later, the villa was gutted by fire."

No surprise.