$1 Billion Doesn't Buy As Much House As It Used To

Maybe I have unrealistic expectations, but for a billion bucks I'd want more than 27 stories, three helipads with air-traffic control office, a six-floor parking garage, a ballroom, a 50-seat cinema, rooftop gardens, three floors of hanging gardens, a health spa, a dance studio, swimming pools, lounges, a vehicle maintenance area, and guest rooms. I think that budget would also entitle me at least to a state-of-the-art operating theater complete with MRI, a 20,000-sq.-ft. Roman bath with mosaic murals done in gold and lapis lazuli, a monorail, and a small nuclear reactor.

It turns out the house didn't cost a billion dollars to build, only about $77 million (real estate inflation in Mombai, where land goes for $10,000/sq. meter, accounts for the rest), which I guess explains why they had to do without some amenities.

The home's tycoon builder is just my age. Hey, when did I fall off the fast track?

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