One Hyde Park - The Costliest Flats In the World - £10,000 psf

The full address is One Hyde Park: The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, 100 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7 LJ.  Here is the development's website. 

The four 13-storey towers of One-Hyde Park, Artist's Impression

This place has been touted to be the costliest flats on this planet.  They started selling in January 2011, and the last luxury penthouse (penthouse D - 16,000 sq ft duplex apartment) has just been reportedly sold for a whopping £140mil to an unamed buyer likely of Eastern European origin.

Together with the renovation works and other fittings, the total deal value is expected to be between £160mil and £175mil.  This will put the sale price at more than £10,000 psf, shattering all records.


DevelopmentTouted as the most prestigious luxury apartments ever, facilities include 21m stainless steel ozone swimming pool, two saunas and two steam rooms, state of the art gym, squash court, virtual games room with golf simulator.  There is also a private cinema and library. The spa facilities are serviced by staff from Mandarin Oriental.  There is even a house Rolls Royce for the resident's use.

One Hyde Park is the first residence at Mandarin Oriental in Europe.  A 60-strong team is on-site to take care of all the needs of the residents, including housekeeping, operational maintenance, entertainment etc.

The concept is fantastic for the fabulously rich - Mandarin Oriental taking care of your luxury home! The service charges and ongoing maintenance charges must be mind-boggling.  Then again, if you are a billionaire, these would be small change.  Take a video tour of the show-flat here. 

Location
Just where is this place?  From Google Maps, check out 100 Knightsbridge London.  You can see the 4 buildings.  Not surprisingly, the development is just next to the Mandarin Oriental at Knightsbridge.

Zooming out a bit more, so you can see the area better.  Mayfair is to the northeast of Knighsbridge. Belgravia is just to the Southeast.  Recall another blog post where the Grosvenor Group was selling off their Prime Central London assets in Belgravia, see this link.

Thanks to Google Street view, I can see that the buildings are all completed and this is how they look like from the outside as we travel along Knightsbridge.

This is called a modernist design.

So modern, they actually look quite forgettable.

Well, there is nothing very special or spectacular about this, really.  Just a bunch of very expensive flats.

Indeed.  The Battersea Development looks much more attractive from an architectural point of view.

Which Market Is One Hyde Park Targetting At? 
The billionaires, or at least the very ultra high net worth.  Apparently, 60 apartments are owned by companies residing in tax havens and the owners of the companies remain anonymous.  Many owners are reportedly from Eastern Europe, but nobody can confirm this.

Of the owners that are known, they are:

1. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar
2. Rinat Akhmetov, Ukrainian Business Tycoon (est. net worth US$16 bn)
3. Vladimir Kim, Kazakh Businessman of Korean descent (est. net worth US$5 bn)

You can see that these are billionaires that we are talking about.  It is also well-known that many Hyde Park apartments are left empty, at least most of the time.  The owners wouldn't rent them out.  Why would they need to anyway?  It is more like a private hotel to them, when they holiday in London or visit London on business.

Any views?  Do share them on our community forum.  Have a great day ahead.

Happy Investing