Doing laps with the angels
Ashley Ford
Province
Agent Grace Kwok shows off the fabulous views from the Melville, the unfinished, $10-million condo that has bragging right to the city’s highest swimming pool. Photograph by : Les Bazso, The Province
If you have a spare $10 million to invest in Vancouver’s simmering residential real-estate market, realtor Grace Kwok has an intriguing deal for you.
The vice-president of Anson Realty Ltd. is selling a 5,800-square-foot penthouse on the 43rd floor of the Melville, the highest residential complex in the downtown core, at 1189 Melville.
The space commands stunning 360-degree views of the city and, for a limited time, the buyer gets to design it exactly as he or she desires. Kwok even has renowned California designer Michael Booth standing by if the buyer wants and can design themes varying from Pacific Northwest, modern classic or European opulence. It’s all included in the price tag.
Kwok says it is not unknown for high-end buyers of luxury real estate to want to put their own stamp on their home.
“In this instance, we want to give a potential buyer the opportunity to design and install what they would like in the penthouse.
“Buyers and investors at this level usually come in two categories. Those who are keen on doing it themselves from the bare bones, which the home is now, to those who want simply to walk in and start living,” she said.
She anticipates a great deal of local interest in both the penthouse and eight other completed sub-penthouses that are being marketed at the same time.
The rest of the approximately 242 suites in the building developed by privately-owned Vancouver-based Amacon have already been sold and are now occupied.
While Kwok anticipates the penthouse will be bought by a local buyer, she acknowledges the project has already attracted many potential foreign buyers from the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Britain. Despite the seemingly high price tag, Kwok says a buyer gets an enormous amount of space, far bigger than your average single-family home.
“While the city is certainly on the world’s radar screen as one of the best places in which to live, it also still offers some of the world’s most affordable luxury properties,” she says.
So what could a buyer put in the penthouse?
There is adequate space for four or five bedrooms, five or six bathrooms, a huge kitchen and living room and five patios.
And just upstairs on the roof is the city’s highest swimming pool and gymnasium plus a large “sky” garden. If it doesn’t sell quickly, it will be fully finished by the developers and take about four months to complete, Kwok says.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
