One Hyde Park: The £140m flat
It boasts a penthouse view over Central London, a private wine-tasting facility and an underground passage to a Heston Blumenthal restaurant.
The £140m flat: Harrods is the local 'corner shop'
Throw in security measures a James Bond villain would be proud of and a 'panic room' in case things go wrong, and you would expect to pay a high price.
But even estate agents could not contain their amazement yesterday as a London property was on the verge of being sold for £140million - making it the most expensive flat in the world.
Costing more than £6,000 per square foot, the two-floor apartment in the One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge block has floor-to-ceiling windows, its own car park and access to a host of spas and squash courts.
There is also a tunnel to the neighbouring Mandarin Oriental Hotel - where TV chef Blumenthal will soon open his first London restaurant - to allow residents access to 24-hour room service, while the performance car-maker McLaren is opening a showroom on the ground floor.
And should the residents feel the need to venture outside, the local 'corner shops' include Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Naturally enough the residence has security features including bullet-proof windows, SAS-trained security guards, an air purifier to frustrate poison gas attacks and a 'panic room' where the owners can retreat in safety should they be targeted by kidnappers or robbers.
The previous most expensive flat was valued at £115million in a rival Central London development at St James's Square in 2008.
Trevor Abrahamson of estate agent Glentree Estates said of the latest sale: 'This is a huge price. In the last six months we have sold more trophy properties than we have in the last two years. One minute there was an over-supply and then there was a shortage. Prices are high.'
While the identity of the new owner is shrouded in secrecy, the usual super- rich suspects of Russian oligarchs and Arab billionaires are in the frame.
One Hyde park: The location of the world's most expensive flat
In all a quarter of buyers in the block are Middle Eastern, while one third are European.
Around 65% of all the properties in the block - due to open later this year - have been sold. The average cost is, comparatively speaking, a mere trifle, at £20million.
The £140million price tag is seen as a sign that the top end of the property market has been untouched by the recession as the world's financial elite continue to flock to London, taking advantage of the weakness of the pound.
The property, designed by architect Lord (Richard) Rogers's firm, Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners, is being marketed by developer brothers Christian and Nick Candy. They bought the site, formerly occupied by a grim 1950s office block, for £150million in 2004.
Candy & Candy refused to comment on the sale of the flat, citing client confidentiality.
The Candys hit the headlines recently over their efforts to redevelop Chelsea Barracks after the Prince of Wales complained to their Qatari backers about the design.
Stamp duty? that'll be £5.6m
• So far flat sales total more than £870million at the site - with about a third still to be sold
• The stamp duty alone on the penthouse flat, at 4%, will cost an eye-watering £5.6million
• Flats in the building will feature eye-scanners in their private lifts to prevent intruders
• The buildings are heated using geothermal bore holes sunk 450ft to extract heat from the Earth's crust Fifteen different types of stone from Turkey, Italy, France, Belgium, Brazil, China and Egypt were used in construction
• More than 50 full-time staff will work at the 86 flats
• The McLaren showroom on the ground level will feature a display of the company's Formula 1 cars
• Another penthouse was bought for £100million by Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani
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