Expensive Places

How to make 15 million in three years: Alex Birkenstock, a member of the family that controls the German shoe company Birkenstock, bought 7,400-square-foot penthouse in Miami for $9.9 million in 2009. Now, after three years he sell it for $25 million to an Italian.

$25 million, a record price for a Miami-area apartment, ($21.5 million was the previous record five months before).

The penthouse is on the 40th to 42nd floors in the Continuum towers, has five bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms and 6,000 square feet of outdoor space across six terraces, and includes a private pool and an internal elevator. It was not listed on the market and Italian buyer plans to use the penthouse as a second home when he is not in Europe.

Via: businessinsider.com and nytimes.com

How much are you willing to pay for a private parking space? If you are rich and live in New York you should take a look at this million-dollar private garage at 66 E. 11th St.

It is not ready yet but architectural design unveil that it will be as 12 feet wide, 23 feet long and 15 feet high.

The eight-story prewar loft building is in the process of converting the former parking garage into six luxury condominiums

Via New York Post

The highest condo residences in the nation – One57 – are being built above a five-star Park Hyatt Hotel (near Central Park, Carnegie Hall and the theater district). It is sold for more than $90 million, the most ever paid for an apartment in the the most ever paid for an apartment in New York.

One57 is still under construction but it will feature big rooms and high ceilings, custom details and high-quality materials.

We can see a modern kitchen but residents will also have access to the services offered to the Park Hyatt hotel’s transient guests.

Source

How much are you willing to pay for a stainless steel bike? If $5,495 won’t “break” your bank account then take a look at this DeLorean Bicycle.

There are 3 models to choose from: DeLorean Anyday, DeLorean Speed and DeLorean Cruise.

The idea for The DeLorean Bicycle began much like the DeLorean vehicle itself – a goal to build a vehicle of style and substance with innovative features that would represent a value for both the passionate and casual cyclists alike.

A conversation started between good friends Stephen Wynne (Delorean Motor Company) and Marc Moore (Entrepreneur, Passionate Cyclist & Former Delorean Owner) about building possibly building a bicycle that could bear the DeLorean name, but do so without giving up anything to best bicycle manufacturers of today. Exploration of cycle design had begun. The material of the frame was selected in a more obvious fashion – the only choice was stainless steel. This was absolutley essential, as it maintained the DeLorean connection to be valid and substantial.

This proved to be an excellent choice of materials. Stainless steel for bicycle construction, while fairly new, has some fantastic benefits for cyclists. Bicycle ride quality is made up of a number of factors, some of the more important aspects being:

Smoothness – Complete road isolation while still maintaining a connected feeling to the terrain.

Stiffness – Allowing full power to go into the pedals, and not lost to flexing of the frame.

Durability – Corrosion is absolutley minimized, a very high fatigue life, low impact resistance, and ease of repair.

Weight – Not exactly tied to ride quality, but more affecting the overall ride feel and performance.

The stainless steel used in the DeLorean Bicycle is designed to excel in all areas of ride quality. The Italian-made Columbus XCR tubing is well known to be some of the most supreme stainless steel used for bicycle frame manufacturing today.

The DeLorean Bicycle gives a ride combined with a style that makes it equally at home next to your DeLorean during the car show as it would the weekly road race for the city limit signs. Even if you have never owned a DeLorean, the name and style are iconic and unmistakeable.

DeLorean Bicycle is the most expensive stainless steel bike comes for $5,500

A true all around machine, the DeLorean Anyday model has a super efficient & clean running belt drive transmission, making it easier to climb bigger hills or go faster on the flats with the 11-speed internally geared hub that comes as standard equipment.

To keep things under control, the Anyday has front & rear hydraulic disc brakes; wet or dry, stopping power is always more than sufficient. To help you be seen in low light or at night, the wheels are coated with a new luminescent coating that under regular lighting looks dark, but once lights are shined on them they almost appear to “turn on.” This makes that early morning or late evening ride much safer. An Italian made gel saddle increases your comfort, as well as a full carbon fork providing precise steering response with room to even install larger treaded tires for dirt roads or even path riding.

Wherever or however you want to ride, the DeLorean Anyday delivers the style and innovation that is Delorean with hand-made Italian craftmanship that can take you anywhere.

DeLorean Anyday specs

Frame: Columbus HINOXtube Trafitubi XCr Seamless Triple-Butted Patented Stainless Steel Tubes Made in Italy. Designed and Artisan Built by Sarto Antonio Racing Bicycles in Pianiga, Italy.
Fork: 3T Disc-Ready Carbon Fork
Headset: FSA Integrated
Drivetrain: Shimano Alfine 11-Speed Internal Shifting [Rear Hub and Shifter]; Gates Carbon Drive Center Trac Belt and Sprockets.
Cranks: Shimano Alfine
Brakes: Shimano Alfine Hydraulic Disc [Front and Rear]
Wheels: Velocity Halo 700c 32-Spoke Reflective Rims; Velocity Front Hub; Sapim Spokes; Wheelset Handbuilt in Georgia.
Tires: Vittoria Rubino Pro Folding [28mm]
Grips: Fizik Lock-On
Handlebar: Ritchey Comp [Bead Blasted]
Stem: Ritchey WCS [Bead Blasted]
Saddle: Selle Royale Respiro
Seatpost: Ritchey WCS One Bolt

Product page
Via

Paris, often thought of as the world’s most romantic city, has just been deemed the most expensive city in the world to order a club sandwich.

The Club Sandwich Index ‘average Club Sandwich price’ is the average price of 30 Club Sandwiches as sold in 30 hotels in the city of each country measured. The prices were taken from 10 Five Star, 10 Four Star, and 10 Three Star hotels from each city. In total, 1,000 prices of a club sandwich were measured across 1,000 hotels, in 26 countries. European prices were converted to $USD, exchange rate correct as of April 25, 2012.

But if $33 seems like too much to shell out for lunch, stick to the 10 most popular United States destinations where the most expensive club sandwich can be found in New York City, for an average price of nearly $17.

Within the U.S., it is no surprise that New York City is home to the most expensive club sandwich prices due to the city’s reputation for an expensive cost of living. Although affordable lunch can be found in San Diego, visitors can assume while traveling in the U.S. lunch will set them back around an average of $12 – $14. An interesting regional difference travelers should note is that many restaurants in New Orleans do not serve club sandwiches, but rather the Big Easy favorite, Po’ Boy, which can consist of a variety of seafood or meats and condiments served on French bread.

In London, the top overseas destination for Americans, a club costs an average of $19, making the city ninth on the CSI. The least expensive cities for a club sandwich from all 30 global cities surveyed are New Delhi, India and Mexico City, Mexico, with the average price coming in at just $10.

The study was made by Hotels.com

Zurich is on first place in Top 10 Expensive Cities 2012. Zurich has overtaken Tokyo for the first time in 20 years according to Economist Intelligence Unit‘s latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

Both Japan and Switzerland have seen strong currency movements over the last few years which have made them relatively more expensive. This has become especially true of Switzerland in the last
year, where investors looking for a haven currency outside the beleaguered Eurozone have invested heavily in the Swiss Franc, prompting an unprecedented move by the Swiss government to peg the
Swiss Franc to the Euro to keep the currency competitive, according to the report.

Despite Eurozone weaknesses affecting markets like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, evidence is that German and French cities are still relatively expensive with Paris and Frankfurt holding
firm in the ten most expensive.

Local inflation in mature markets always has far less influence on the relative cost of living than the currency movements of the countries in question. This also explains the recent presence of Australian cities like Sydney and Melbourne in the ten most expensive locations as last year saw the Australian dollar pass parity with the US dollar from holding half that value a decade ago.

Research methodology involve more than 50,000 individual prices are collected in each survey and EIU researchers survey a range of stores: supermarkets, midpriced stores and higher priced specialty outlets. These are not recommended retail prices or manufacturers’ costs; they are what the paying customer is charged. Items are individually weighted across a range of categories and a comparative index is product using the relative difference by weighted item. More detail about methodology you can find here.

Few months ago London was the World’s most expensive place to setup and office space. Now, Hong Kong unseated London.

The cost of renting prime office space in Hong Kong soared 28 per cent during 2011 to £97.11 per sq ft a year due to the growing interest from banks to consolidate their presence in Asia region.

“Office occupiers remain cautious in many international markets, particularly with concerns over the strength of the global economy and the future of the eurozone resurfacing in recent months,” said Matthew Colbourne, senior international research analyst at Knight Frank.

“The pace of prime office rental growth in Europe slowed significantly in the second half of 2011, with rents remaining essentially flat in markets such as London’s West End and Frankfurt,” he added.