I agree that 2 billion seems a ridiculous price for what this is, especially since this is going to be built in India.

5/11/2008 7:40:13 PM

page 2 billion 2,020,000,000

5/11/2008 7:41:55 PM

man, fuck that ugly piece of shit

5/11/2008 8:47:28 PM

the interior looks nice, but the building looks like shit. kinda like they didn't finish some other building and the dude is just squatting in it, makin it ghetto fab.

5/11/2008 8:51:09 PM

Quote :

"If I was dropping that much on a house, I'd make it an authentic castle exterior, with a moat with gators and everything"

5/12/2008 8:38:24 AM

who cares about the exterior, the inside is 100% baller.

i want 1 plz

5/12/2008 9:58:00 AM

It looks like the design is optimized to provide a lot of "outdoors" space as well as indoors. You don't normally see that with high rise buildings (ie, plan more cubicles), so yeah, kind of a specific purpose building.

5/12/2008 10:46:50 AM

Quote :

"are you guys missing the most crucial part? he's employing 600 Indians! He's a humanitarian!"

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA 10/10

5/15/2008 4:41:02 AM

I'm pretty thrown off about the price. The new Bank of America tower in Manhattan cost $1,000,000,000. Its the 3rd tallest building in the US and was built in probably the most expensive place in the world to build (thank you unions). And its still only 1/2 of this tower, lol!

And yeah, 2 billion dollar tower in the middle of shit, hurray.

5/15/2008 9:19:14 AM

Yes, but that was probably built using minimal expense on materials. The steel is going to cost about the same no matter where you get it, but his tower will be finished inside with shit other than drywall, fluorescent lights, and berber carpet.

5/15/2008 10:19:28 AM

^^

the bellagio cost $1.6Billion to build.

It's not the size of the building, but what you're putting in it that drives up the cost.

5/15/2008 10:23:06 AM

That's more comparable. What's 1.6b adjusted for inflation?

5/15/2008 10:30:30 AM

^^^true. However keep in mind that the BofA tower was built to be the greenest skyscraper in the US. That shit ain't cheap to do

Also the $1,000,000,000 cost doesn't include the build out of almost all the floors, thats all done by private tenants. Add that up and you're pushing at least another $3-400 mill.

5/15/2008 10:44:39 AM

I'm thinking that place would be fucking awesome for his kids to play hide and seek in.

5/15/2008 11:46:16 AM

Quote :

"I'm thinking that place would be fucking awesome for his kids me to play hide and seek in."

5/15/2008 12:07:49 PM

However, if the Burj Dubai costs 3 billion...why not just blow another billion and have that giant structure for a house. Hell, if you're gonna go balls out, build a something like the Burj and live in that.

5/15/2008 5:04:10 PM

I would spend it on some crazy Bond-villain shit.

5/15/2008 5:05:46 PM

Quote :

"2 billion and it doesnt even look baller looks like the cross section of uncompleted office building If I was dropping that much on a house, I'd make it an authentic castle exterior, with a moat with gators and everything"

I agree. Inside is nice, granted, but could've made the outside more aesthetically pleasing.

5/15/2008 5:26:58 PM

Quote :

"However, if the Burj Dubai costs 3 billion...why not just blow another billion and have that giant structure for a house. Hell, if you're gonna go balls out, build a something like the Burj and live in that."

I agree... however, I am not sure which one you are talking about.

Burj Al Arab (sail-shaped hotel and the tallest + most luxurious hotel in the world; 2 times as tall the house)
$2 billion

Burj Dubai (world's tallest building under construction; 5 times as tall the house; 2 times as tall as the ESB)
$4 billion

Either way, your point is valid.

5/15/2008 5:44:27 PM

Bombay has one of the highest real estate values in the world.

5/15/2008 5:57:18 PM

Staggering waste.

5/15/2008 8:24:29 PM

^^

My boss and I were talking about this today and he threw out one thousand dollars a square foot.

5/15/2008 11:04:00 PM

Why is there not a giant loopy slide from the top of the house to the bottom?

Why didn't he make the outside of the house look like a monster looking down on the city?

He had the chance to be as creative as he could, and build basically ANYTHING, and he built that. For $2 billion, I am pretty disappointed

P.S. And why put it in the middle of Mumbai? He gets no yard and guaranteed nightly vandalism now

V Yeah, I know, but it still disappoints me

[Edited on May 15, 2008 at 11:24 PM. Reason : it could've been so jawsome...]

5/15/2008 11:20:37 PM

If he can afford a $2B house, he can afford security too.

5/15/2008 11:23:09 PM

Quote :

"My boss and I were talking about this today and he threw out one thousand dollars a square foot."

And that's exactly where this place is:

[from wiki]

Quote :

"Situated on a 4,532 sq. mt. plot at Altamount Road on the famed Malabar Hill, where land prices are upward of US$ 10,000 per square meter"

5/16/2008 12:35:56 AM

I like the interior, but the outside is so

5/16/2008 12:44:51 AM

Quote :

"...permission will be given to convert the land from being used for an orphanage to being used to construct a 2 billion dollar home for a family of 5"

is that the most ballsy rich person act in history?

5/16/2008 4:38:57 AM

I'm not sure you could really call this place a home. I mean, it's a home plus a hotel, plus a fitness spa/gym, plus an athletic complex, plus a movie theater, etc...

5/16/2008 9:35:45 AM

i would want to egg this house.

5/16/2008 10:17:05 AM

I'll get the T.P.

5/16/2008 10:54:41 PM

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/09/asia/09gated.php

Gates separate India's good life and the servants' slums

India probably has the biggest difference in lifestyle between its richest and poorest, along with Russia and China.

Article worth a read. Will make you sick.

6/9/2008 8:31:31 AM

It is very sickening.

very reminiscent of pre-revolution France.

6/9/2008 9:20:48 AM

bump

8/4/2011 2:38:38 AM

^ thanks.

i never posted an update. so, here are 2, one from when the house was finished just under a year ago, and the other, from now, with him being in trouble with the law over how he acquired the land. btw, it seems to have cost $1 billion, not 2.

btw, his first power bill (for one month) was $150,000, equivalent to the bill of about 7,000 average homes in bombay

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11854177




if red X: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-25/mumbai/28228655_1_power-bill-mukesh-ambani-nita

Quote :

"India's Ambani hosts party for 'world's priciest home' Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani has hosted a lavish house-warming for his new 27-storey residence, believed to be the world's most expensive home. About 80 people attended the party in Mumbai on Friday, reported the Times of India. One guest described the house as "the Taj Mahal of the 21st Century". Mr Ambani, said to be India's richest man, moved into the house last month with his wife and three children. Reports suggest the residence is worth more than $1bn (£630m). The skyscraper in Mumbai (Bombay), which overlooks sprawling slums, is said to have a cinema, swimming pools and a helicopter pad, and is named "Antilia" after a mythical Atlantic island. Local newspapers said the house would require 600 members of staff to maintain it, and according to the Times of India, the first electricity bill, for September, is costing Mr Ambani 7m rupees (£98,000). The house has sparked some controversy, with anti-poverty campaigners underlining the contrast between the luxury of the house and the plight of those who live in Mumbai's slums, which house about half of the city's 18 million people. 'Versailles rival' Guests at the house-warming included Indian novelist Shobhaa De, Bollywood stars Preity Zinta and Aamir Khan, and billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla. Ms De said the 174m (570ft) building was the "Taj Mahal of the 21st Century". She described "what has got to be the biggest, glitziest ballroom in India - the Palace of Versailles is a poor cousin". "There is a lot of marble, there is a lot of mother of pearl. There are areas and gardens and lotus pools and an absolutely beautiful Krishna temple. There is art, there's sculpture, there is a huge bar, there is a swimming pool," she said. "The Taj Mahal was considered one of the wonders of the world, this is...I'm sure it's going to be one of the wonders of modern India," she told the BBC. She said the house was built to the personal taste of Mr Ambani, and that people should not "grudge him his indulgencies". "He generates a great amount of employment for those very poor and contributes to the economy," she added. The house, which has a temple on the ground floor and a library on the top, was designed according to Vaastu principles, an Indian tradition similar to Chinese feng shui. According to Forbes magazine, Mr Ambani, 53, has amassed a $27bn (£17bn) fortune. He is chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, one of the largest conglomerates in the world, and also owns the Indian Premier League team, the Mumbai Indians. Mr Ambani's brother, Anil, held a "parallel party" at the 14-storey residence which houses the rest of the family. Relations between the brothers became strained during a dispute over the division of the conglomerate left by their father, Dhirubhai, who died in 2002 without a will."

and now he faces court over how the land was acquired:

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/south-asia/mukesh-ambani-indias-richest-man-faces-court-over-dh3-6bn-mumbai-home

click to read all.

Quote :

"Antilia, which was finished last year, has always been controversial for its sheer ostentation in a city teeming with poverty. But it may now be in trouble of a different sort over a complaint that the land was acquired illegally from a charitable trust under an Islamic endowment. The Maharashtra Wakf Board, which administers buildings and land held in Islamic endowments in the state, contends the trustees of an orphanage on the land did not have permission to sell the property to Mr Ambani in 2002. ND Pathan, the board's chief executive officer, said the land's ownership, after the 1995 Wakf Act was passed, had been vested with the board rather than with the orphanage. Under law, a Wakf board is not allowed to sell or lease its land to private parties, Mr Pathan said, unless the circumstances were exceptional. "We tried to recover the land under section 54 of the Wakf Act, which deals with wakf land that has been encroached upon," Mr Pathan said, adding that the board first raised the matter with the court when the land was bought in 2002. "Ambani went to court and got a stay on that order. We tried to appeal the stay in the Supreme Court and didn't succeed, so our petition is now back pending in the high court.""

8/4/2011 2:54:00 AM

Guys, the only thing that matters here is.... how many bitches he got on each level?

8/4/2011 9:07:55 AM

asdf

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 10:38 AM. Reason : a]

8/4/2011 10:38:22 AM

Thanks for the update, i remember when this was originally posted

Quote :

"the Taj Mahal of the 21st Century"

Taj Mahal was a monument, this is a private residence. Unless you look at it as a monument to exceess, haha. Also, Taj Mahal was huge at the time and good looking. This thing, like people already pointed out, does not look epic at all inside and out, only on paper it sounds impressive. In fact it does not even look very appealing. It looks like it was designed in the 1980s, which was not really a good looking time for ANYTHING. "There is a lot of marble, there is a lot of mother of pearl"?? wtf it is 2011 out there. Bring on composite materials and fiber optics. Maybe even a vertical garden on Versailles scale, if that what they want to compare it to.

For $1B spent in India, money not well spent IMO. At least it will be easy to convert into an office building if he ever runs into some hard times

And the worst part is

Quote :

"Relations between the brothers became strained during a dispute over the division of the conglomerate left by their father, Dhirubhai, who died in 2002 without a will"

sooo much money and still squabbles with the immidiate family (presumably over the money)

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 10:43 AM. Reason : .]

8/4/2011 10:39:16 AM

I would really like to think I could build a much better looking structure for that kind of money. That thing is hideous from the outside and not great from the inside as well (at least imo). Calling it the Taj Mahal of the 21st century is just silly. It's not my money so they can do whatever they want, but that thing is attempting to be awe-inspiring via brute force only (quantity and size) imo.

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 10:46 AM. Reason : ]

8/4/2011 10:45:21 AM

Quote :

"If I had that much money, I would not be able to, in good conscience, build such an extravagant home. I'd certainly have a nice pad, but that $2 billion could feed, clothe, and house a LOT of people. And it's really shitty to build that in the middle of a city with millions of sick, hungry, and homeless people."

i agree with BobbyDigital here.

and it got me to thinking....

if i had the cash i think i would get a lot of badass apartments in a lot of cities.
plus i would keep my house now.
i fucking love my house

8/4/2011 10:47:46 AM

I bet his kids have some epic hide and seek games in that place.

8/4/2011 12:53:07 PM

shit, you probably need turn by turn navigation just to get around that house.

8/4/2011 12:59:54 PM

^^^but how much does he actually donate to justify to having a 1 billion dollar house? What if he also donated 1 billion dollars? Can he have the house then? Or does he have to give away all his money?

Also, the house looks stupid.

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 1:07 PM. Reason : .]

8/4/2011 1:07:44 PM

Quote :

"Also, the house looks stupid."

This.

8/4/2011 1:08:47 PM

Quote :

"but how much does he actually donate to justify to having a 1 billion dollar house? What if he also donated 1 billion dollars? Can he have the house then? Or does he have to give away all his money?"

its not so much this as to who really needs a 2 billion dollar house???!?!?!

i'm not really passing judgement on the guy- it's his money....but im just saying i'd feel bad spending 2 billion on a home. talk about some serious buyers remorse.

8/4/2011 1:14:00 PM

bunch of haters in this thread.

nobody would turn down the oppertunity to live in a 2 billion dollar home.

8/4/2011 1:17:18 PM

I wouldn't want to live in a $2 billion home. I'd much rather have 2,000 million dollar homes scattered throughout the world to live / vacation in. I'd have them tied up as rental properties when I'm not using them.

8/4/2011 1:20:30 PM

^^ in all honesty 27 floors is too much.


give me a complete cleaning and wait staff and have all my bills paid, then i'll think about it.


i feel like i'd be living in a hotel though, kinda creepy.

8/4/2011 1:21:53 PM

^^^ I think you're twisting some words or failing to realize that not wanting to live in the house versus saying they'd do something different with that kind of money are not the same.

But no, I don't really desire to live in that house at that location.

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 1:24 PM. Reason : ^s]

8/4/2011 1:23:16 PM

^ i think i understood what he's saying, i think im just twisting it around a little more than i should though....



my buyers remorse comes from the idea that i just bought this or that and i didn't really need it because i could have donated it or something.....

i couldn't imagine how i'd feel about that house!

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 1:29 PM. Reason : -->

8/4/2011 1:23:59 PM

Yea, I just don't like ultimatums people make sometimes like "no one would turn down living in that home" or "nobody would would turn her down." Just irks me when someone makes an ultimatum like that since everyone is so different. I really have absolutely 0 desire to live in that house. Would I love to have that kind of money? Or would I love to build my own "dream house"? Sure.

8/4/2011 1:31:55 PM