When the wildfires hit Los Angeles, real estate developer Robert Rivani was just weeks away from listing his newly-renovated Malibu mansion on the market for $40 million.
Now, the five-bedroom oceanside home has been reduced to rubble by the Palisades Fire, which is tearing through one of the ritziest enclaves in Los Angeles County.
‘It’s devastating,’ Florida-based Rivani, 34, told DailyMail.com over the phone from his Miami home on Monday. ‘I’m in shock’.
Rivani spent around three years renovating the Carbon Beach property, recently adding the final touches like marble furnishings, a Zen garden and an infrared sauna.
The project cost him around $27 million including the price of the original structure, which is built around an interior courtyard featuring a lily-pad pond.
Rivani had been planning to list the property for $40 million in three weeks. He’s now lost $20 million overnight, and can only recoup around $3 million through insurance.
The razed neighborhood is still under evacuation orders, and Rivani has not seen his property other than through shocking post-apocalyptic images of the aftermath.
‘It’s pretty much a hazmat zone. I don’t want to send anyone there or re-live the trauma just yet,’ he told DailyMail.com.
Real estate developer Robert Rivani, 34, has lost his $40 million Malibu mansion (pictured) in the Los Angeles County wildfires, three weeks before he was set to list it on the market
The five-bedroom oceanside home has been reduced to rubble by the Palisades Fire, which is tearing through one of the ritziest enclaves in Los Angeles County
The razed neighborhood is still under evacuation orders, and Rivani has not seen his property other than through shocking post-apocalyptic images, like the one shown above
While he comes to terms with losing the last three years of hard work, Rivani said he blames the ‘negligence’ of local leaders like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass for the utter devastation across LA.
‘These fires have been happening every single year. What have the mayor and local government done in terms of preventative measures? So far I have not seen anything,’ he said.
Robert Rivani, 34,
Rivani said the fires are already ‘the most expensive natural disaster in the history of the United States’ – but the aftershock on the real estate market will be even worse.
When asked how the infernos would impact LA’s real estate landscape going forward, he said: ‘That’s the trillion dollar question.
‘In the short term, it’s going to be complete and utter devastation.
‘The people are gone, the restaurants are gone… rebuilding isn’t going to be easy. People are probably going to take their insurance money.
‘I don’t see anything turning around the for the better unless the government steps in with the permit process, otherwise it’s going to be Armageddon.’
‘I already moved from LA a few years ago because of the policies. This (the mansion) was one of the last two projects I had in California,’ he added.
‘Now that this catastrophe has happened, LA is one of the last place I would think to invest.
‘California is the most beautiful state in the country with fantastic people, but unfortunately local lawmakers are running it into the ground.’
The project cost Rivani around $27 million including the price of the original structure, which is built around an interior courtyard featuring a lily-pad pond
Rivani had been planning to list the property (pictured inside) for $40 million in three weeks. He’s now lost $20 million overnight, and can only recoup around $3 million through insurance
The razed neighborhood is still under evacuation orders, and Rivani has not seen his property other than through shocking post-apocalyptic images of the aftermath, as shown above
Rivani said he plans to sue the State of California and local LA officials for ‘negligence’ over their handling of the wildfires.
‘I plan on being one of the first people to stand up and say, enough is enough. People need to pay for what they have done – or failed to do,’ he said.
Rivani said he wants to spearhead the case on behalf of all LA residents who have lost their homes, as one of the people who has suffered the biggest financial losses.
‘I want to be the voice for everybody else,’ he said.
‘I know the people of Southern California are a resilient group, and we are going to build it better going forward.
‘But the government needs to have our back, they need to do what they can to help get people back on their feet.’
‘I think Donald Trump will put a lot of pressure on them to make improvements,’ he added.
‘Six to seven years ago when he was last president he met with Gavin Newsom to address these issues.
‘Nothing has been done. We are still dealing with the same issues. How is that not negligence?
‘Elon Musk is going to Mars and trying to start life on Mars, but we can’t stop fires. That seems crazy.’
Pictured: A K9 unit from the Sheriff department searches for possible body remains in ashes of burned mansions at Malibu Beach after ‘Palisades Fire’ in Los Angeles, California
The project cost Rivani around $27 million including the price of the original structure, which is built around an interior courtyard featuring a lily-pad pond
The beautiful oceanside five-bedroom property no longer exists. Rivani blames local leaders
He blasted LA leaders for cutting the fire department budget and focusing on DEI policies when hiring first responders instead of taking care of tax-paying residents.
‘How much money is the city going to lose now after saving a few thousand on the budget? Billions,’ he said. ‘They are thinking small picture – we needed big picture.’
Rivani also criticized LA Mayor Karen Bass for being away in Africa for the inauguration of the Ghanian president while her city burned, despite ample warning that a perfect storm for fiery conditions was on the way.
‘I’m extremely unhappy that she was cutting fire department budgets and was not doing anything to address mediation issues,’ he said.
‘She’s more focused on traveling to Ghana than her own citizens. What kind of leadership is that?’
A petition demanding the Democrat’s resignation has already accumulated more than 100,000 signatures.
As the official death toll from the fires climbs to 24, anxious residents are preparing for another 72 hours of hellish weather conditions expected to propel the fires in new directions.
The fatality total is expected to climb, with at least 16 people still missing and 150,000 forced to evacuate their homes.
A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows
In all, four fires have consumed more than 62 square miles across the most affluent neighborhoods of LA, with A-list celebrity homes and restaurant hotspots among the 12,300 structures wiped out.
Local fire departments have warned that harsher winds and more fire would prevent those under mandatory evacuation orders from returning home to assess the damage.
‘Life-threatening winds and dangerously low humidity are forecast for much of Southern California, creating a significant risk of rapid fire spread,’ the California fire service (CalFire) said in a statement. ‘The winds will cause increased fire activity.’
The Eaton Fire near Pasadena and the Palisades Fire, in a wealthy enclave along the Pacific Coast, alone accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).
Nearly 70,000 customers were without power across California as of Sunday, more than half of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutrage.com.
Extreme dry weather conditions due to a prolonged drought, dry vegetation and powerful Santa Ana winds that reached up to 80 mph in some areas this week created the ‘perfect storm’ for the fires.
Two people have also been arrested for allegedly lighting fires in the county too, including Ruben Montes, 29, who was detained for arson on Sunday in Irwindale, roughly 16 miles away from Altadena, where the deadly Eaton Fire continues to rage.
Mexican national Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, was also taken into custody after allegedly being caught on video walking with a yellow blowtorch before he was confronted by residents in Calabasas, west of Beverly Hills.
