November 2012 - Rocky Mountain Region Porsche Club - Porsche ...

i get around Dick Badler
26
The First Car
Company
to Conquer
Living Space
Ok, how many remember the ad line, “The
first to conquer living space, the Castro
Convertible”?
Didn’t think so. Here’s a hint: it’s not
about cars.
Still nothing? It’s actually a bit of a trick
question. Unless you’re of a certain age,
and from the metro NY area, it never will
mean anything to you.
But, if you are, you remember clear as
a bell the little girl in the TV commercials,
who would gleefully unfold a bed, like
magic, out of what looked like a normal
sofa. And you’re probably humming the
accompanying song, right now.
We’ve come a long way in the 50 or so
years since the advent of the convertible
bed. In fact, the road has led us all the way
to “en suite parking.” That’s right, being
able to drive your car right up to your
apartment in the sky, where that sofa bed
is waiting for you... and a lot more.
The Wall Street Journal, in a story on Oct.
5, 2012, featured several buildings going up
or completed in select urban jungles that
provide just this convenience.
In New York, the structure at 200 11th
Avenue is a 19-story building with 14 units.
Residents drive into an enclosed stainlesssteel
elevator, which runs alongside the
building. In less than a minute, they drive
out the opposite end, and into their very
own garage, adjacent to their unit. The
HighGear
November 2012
elevator is located behind two one-footthick
concrete walls, two stairwells and a
hallway… all to minimize noise.
And the living spaces range from 2,000 to
5,000 square feet. They’ve sold for under
$3 million to $32 million.
In Singapore, Hamilton Scotts is a
30-story condo with 56 units. The driver
inches onto an 18-by-9-foot pallet in
the basement and engages a biometric
scanner that reads his thumbprint and
activates the elevator to lift the vehicle
to the unit’s “en suite car garage.” The
resident then rides up a different elevator,
one presumably just for foot traffic. To
retrieve the car, the owner reverses the
process.
Units start at roughly $7.9 million.
But the best is a development due to
open in January 2014: Porsche Design
Tower, in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, about
18 miles north of Miami Beach on Collins
Avenue.
That’s right, your favorite design division
of your favorite car company is now
venturing into real estate, partnering with
a South Florida developer.
According to the Journal story, here’s
how it will work. The resident drives to a
spot where a transponder in the car tells
the lift system to deliver both car and driver
to their unit. A robotic arm then raises the
car three inches, moving it into a glasswalled
elevator. The arm then deposits
the car and driver into their garage space.
This tap dance is supposed to take 45 to 90
seconds.
To reverse the process, a touch-screen
system lets residents call back their car,
and gives an estimate of when it will be
delivered.
According to published reports, the
57-story tower will have 132 units, ranging
from 4,200 to 14,000 square feet, and
varying in price from $3.9 million to $21
million. Each residence will have at least
two parking spaces; large residences will
have four… adding up to a total of 284
robotic parking spaces.
And residents will be able to view their
pride and joys from their living rooms.
Amenities include a pool on nearly every
balcony, an on-site spa and see-through
floor plans with ocean and intracoastal
views.
Interested? You’d better hurry. The
Porsche Design Tower Sales Center is
now open, right next door to the site. The
center provides “dollhouse” models of
each residence and demonstrates the
“sky garage” technology using high-tech
videography.
One report quotes the developer as
saying the building is expected to serve
as a catalyst for other Porsche Design
Towers around the globe. “There are very
few buildings which can truly say they will
have inspired and transformed an industry,
but this will genuinely be one of those.”
That’s right. The next frontier… the first
to conquer vehicular living space. First it
was sports cars, then SUVs, then sedans…
and now, places to put the toys… mancaves
in the sky.
What’s next? Porsche Design vehicular
space travel?
Who knows? What I do want to know
is, who are the people who are buying
these units? And how can I become one
of them?