Here's a real estate you'll soon be seeing around the country: condo, secure building, sleeps up to four, good location, premium amenities, concierge, rooftop club, $325,000. But it's not a place for people -- it's for cars. That's right, car condos now feature among the next wave of luxury accouterments for the swelling ranks of plutocrats.

The sum of $325,000 might sound like a lot to spend on a garage for your car, but think of the options: renting a bare bones hangar at a distant airport, keeping the car under a tarp in a parking garage, or owning a house with enough land for a huge car stable. The latter is not always easy to do in a metropolis, even for the filthy rich. Besides, when each of the four cars you need stored could be worth $325k on its own, all of a sudden the price is not so bad.

LA's Luxury on Main, for instance, will feature 80 units, the standard size being 650 square feet, and it is expected to open some time late next year. Club Auto Sport in San Jose is expected to go live next spring, and Dream Garages out of Texas has started in Dallas and is looking to expand across the country. It's a good time to be a really expensive car.

Thanks for the tip, Stuntman Mike!

[Source: LA Times]

A place (for your car) to call home: Luxury on Main originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Associated Press reports that autophiles with lots of money on their hands are turning to car condos to store and protect their precious automobile collections. While expensive parking spots are nothing new (a spot sold for over $200,000 in Boston recently and go for more in the major metropolitan areas of the U.K.), car condos protect a vehicle from door dings and other unfortunate occurrences that go along with garage parking. They are weatherproof, climate-controlled, patrolled by security 24/7, and even offer owners concierge services. The customization options are a nice perk, too -- individual condos (garages, really) can be tailored to suit an owner's needs and tastes, ranging from rubber floors to work space.

[Source: Associated Press via BusinessWeek]

Condo business booming... car condos, that is originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 May 2006 19:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.