Neighbors Aghast at Diet Guru’s Mansion Plan
Mark Hughes--who built a billion-dollar diet empire with the motto “Lose weight now, ask me how”--is himself being asked to drop a few tons.
Benedict Canyon homeowners are demanding that the founder of Herbalife International lop off the uppermost parts of a planned ridge-top mansion he wants to build in the ritzy enclave north of Beverly Hills.
His vision: a grand Mediterranean villa with more square feet than Griffith Observatory and a full view of the city’s hazy opulence. Even City Hall planning staff seem enamored of the project, suggesting that the home could be an architectural landmark because of its “magnificent and palatial” qualities, files show.
The problem, however, is that the plans violate the area’s height limit. And Hughes’ prospective neighbors are angry that the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals granted him an exemption earlier this year.
As a result, the Benedict Canyon Homeowners Assn. and others have filed suit, demanding that the variance be revoked. They say Hughes is erecting a monument to himself that will not only condemn the neighborhood to three years of construction hell but may ultimately serve as a gathering place for hordes of Herbalife agents.
“It’s clear why he’s purchased the largest lot in the city on the highest peak in the canyon,” said an exasperated Robert Cohen, homeowners association president. “It’s strictly a manifestation of his ego.”
A spokesman for Hughes, who was in Paris at an Herbalife convention, blamed the flap on a small number of vocal residents and said his boss has bent over backward to please critics. He said the home will be virtually invisible to neighbors, will not be used for Herbalife gatherings and will probably increase property values.
“They should be delighted,” said attorney Conrad Klein, Hughes’ assistant. “This home is going to be noteworthy. We want it to be something famous for its classical beauty.”
A craggy swatch of the Santa Monica Mountains, Benedict Canyon is no stranger to beauty--natural or Hollywood-style. Its chaparral-covered terrain, which tumbles south from Mulholland Drive, is studded with shimmering pools, hillside mansions and “Armed Response” lawn signs. Its residents have included Cher, Eddie Murphy, Sylvester Stallone and MGM mogul Kirk Kerkorian.
Now Hughes wants in with a 45,000-square-foot manse, which would make it bigger than the White House and the same size as the main structure at Hearst Castle. It would cost an estimated $50 million and be designed by New York architect Charles Young. Plans include 25 rooms, a tennis pavilion, a large guardhouse and a million-gallon pond.
The setting is a 157-acre plot once owned by the shah of Iran’s sister, who sold it to producer Merv Griffin, who incensed locals by bulldozing the highest ridge for a six-home development that never materialized.
Hughes purchased the property in 1997 for $8.5 million. Already a homeowner in Malibu, Beverly Hills and Maui, the 43-year-old diet guru decided that he wanted a new home for his three children and new wife, Darcy La Pier, the ex-wife of actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
The rub came with the design, which includes--even after subtracting the 10 feet Hughes is willing to sink the building into the ground--a 65-foot-high lookout cupola and four 50-foot corner pavilions. Taking a hard line, residents argue that the peaks would still have to be lopped off to fit the normal 36-foot height limit on the hillside.
City planners say extenuating circumstances actually raise the height limit to 45 feet. But even at that, the structure would still be too high. Hughes was forced to apply for a variance last August, and the Planning Department approved it in December, based in part on a staff report that cited the project’s aesthetics.
“The proposed cupola and its proposed height appear to be architecturally necessary for the design of a magnificent and palatial residence such as the one proposed,” said the September 1998 report. “When completed, the proposed single-family estate would be a landmark in the community and surrounding areas.”
But the neighbors aren’t impressed. In fact, they are downright riled.
Some say they loathe the thought of lumber rigs and cement trucks rumbling up Tower Grove Drive, a tortuous, steep two-lane road that is packed with older homes and leads to the Hughes property.
“The angle of this road is so steep that cement is going to be pouring out the back of these trucks,” said Rodney Kemerer, who lives on a nearby street. “It’ll be like elephants walking up the road after eating an enormous meal.”
Yet the main complaint has been the sheer size of the proposed home, which residents say would be higher than the famous Hollywood sign. By granting the exemption, they argue, the city opened the door to the “mansionization” of Benedict Canyon.
Among their sympathizers is Councilman Michael Feuer, whose district includes the area. Feuer characterized the variance as a bad decision that was predicated on a “self-imposed hardship.”
“Both the owner and the architect should have known they were violating the code,” Feuer said. “There is room to build an enormous house well within the basic guidelines that everyone else has to follow.”
Representatives of Hughes say the diet magnate has agreed to add $500,000 in landscaping to better hide the home. He also will keep 100 acres of his parcel in its natural state and is willing to pay for resurfacing of the roads leading to his driveway.
But they maintain that sticking to the height restrictions would amount to an architectural “decapitation” and would make the structure look like “a vast motel or barracks.”
So far, those arguments have carried the day. The zoning appeals board overruled neighborhood objections and upheld the variance May 14. Among other things, the board decided that it would be unfair to Hughes if he could not construct a house proportional to the massive size of his lot.
Last month, residents ratcheted up the fight when the Benedict Canyon homeowners group and the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns. filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit says the variance should be nullified.
“We’re not against big houses,” said homeowners leader Cohen. “But we don’t generally stick them up on top of a mountain.”
