Wretched Excess Dept: Car Condos
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 10.15.07
Artist rendering of proposed car condo, Luxury On Main
Only in LA; People are paying the cost of a small single family home for condos for cars. According to the LA Times, Nicholas Patin, owner of the $30-million-plus project, envisions a high-end haven. "We're designing a facility where collectors can congregate and store their special vehicles in a special place," said Patin, whose own collection includes a 1987 Ferrari Testarossa Gemballa and a 1956 Porsche Speedster.
For $325,000 you get 650 square feet, ($ 500 per foot!) a bathroom, a wet bar and 24/7 security.
Once you have done that, you can hire GarageMahal to customize the interior of your unit to your individual taste, or lack thereof.
Martin Zimmerman in the LA Times continues:
As the market for human housing falters, developers around the country are pushing ahead with plans to build homes for four-wheeled investments. The projects are being marketed as part-garage, part-home away from home, part-clubhouse for car nuts.
"This isn't something for the Jay Lenos who have their own [car] hangars at the Burbank airport," said Greg Anderson, automotive editor of the Robb Report, which chronicles the high life of the upper classes. Nor for Shaquille O'Neal, who can squeeze his 30-vehicle garage onto the grounds of his home in Florida.
"But if you have a dozen cars, or even five -- enough that you can't fit them into your garage -- it can make sense." ::LA Times and ::Luxury on Main
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OK, playing Devil's Advocate:
Conglomerating a bunch of these high end vehicles in one building is much more energy efficient than each owner having a garage (of course fully heated) themselves. Right?
And, theoretically, these people can now live in smaller digs since they won't need that big heated garage. Right?
Just saying. :)
This type of thing is not exclusive to LA:
http://www.dreamgarageusa.net/fc_overview.php
Willy Bio is correct, this is probably better that a whole bunch of suburban landscape taken up by garages. It gives 4 wheel toy loving people the choice live in a condo because they can have a nice "personal" garage near by for the toys. Being multi leveled it makes much better use the land.
Big deal.
It would so great if the cars were all stolen Ocean's 11 style though. The owners would totally have it comming.
-s
Even with excesses like this the American Lumpenproletariat remain lumps and accept blindly the status quo.
Arise ye workers of the World.
shane I'm sending Jeremy Clarkson around to slap you for that.
Tougue firmly in cheek, I hope you know who Clarkson is. :-)