Mohamed Anwar Hadid (/həˈdiːd/ hə-DEED; Arabic: محمد أنور حديد; born (1948-11-06)November 6, 1948)[3] is an American real estate developer.
He is known for building luxury hotels and mansions, mainly in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and the city of Beverly Hills, California.
[11][12] Due to the 1947–1949 Palestine War, Hadid and his family fled to Lebanon as part of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, ultimately settling in Syria.
in Syria to study law, before working in land settlement for the British authorities and teaching English at a teachers' college in Mandatory Palestine.
In 1948, the family moved to Syria, and Hadid's father joined the United States Information Agency (USIA) and Voice of America (VOA).
[9][11][15] Hadid graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, where he was the only Arab student, before attending North Carolina State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 2012, he developed The Crescent Palace, a 48,000-square-foot home on an acre plot next door to the Beverly Hills Hotel, which he listed for sale at $58 million.
[21] In January 2015, Nancy Walton Laurie, an heiress to the Walmart fortune and a Bel Air resident, filed a lawsuit through her company, LW Partnership, against Hadid.
[23] In December 2015, the Los Angeles city council voted to pursue criminal charges over a claim that Hadid violated local zoning laws.
[24][25] In May 2017, Hadid pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges stemming from mansion-construction issues for which he did not receive city approval, and was sentenced that July to community service and fines.
In 2019, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Craig D. Karlan ordered the demolition of the 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) structure, declaring that it put neighbors at, "legitimate risk of suffering damage and harm to their home."