Netters:

Reading through the news below, you will recognise that this is not
presently Nigeria's building - it was restored by Crown Estates, who are
now re-selling it.

But a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation: if Crown Estates is selling
at 35 million pounds, and even if they are making a hefty 20% profit, that
is it cost them say 29 million pounds.  I doubt that they themselves would
invest more than 40% to bring it up to par, which means that it could cost
anywhere from 20-23 million pounds originally!  

Multiply all of that by 1.8 to get dollars - and you can see where all our
money went all of those years.

Bolaji

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Telegraph (UK) 5 May, 1999

£35M BUYS EUROPE'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOME - BUT ONLY FOR 99 YEARS

By Mark Edmonds

THE most expensive house in Europe went on the market for £35 million
yesterday. The price for the property, which overlooks the former home of
Diana, Princess of Wales, at Kensington Palace, does not include a share of
the freehold.

The house, 15a Kensington Palace Gardens, is offered on a 99-year lease and
is one of the most significant houses to come on to the market in London
for some years. The estate agents selling the 10-bedroom, nine-bathroom
property, owned by the Crown Estate, expect it to be bought by a wealthy
individual for use as a London base, rather than being sold to be used as a
diplomatic mission.

Richard Crosthwaite, a partner in Knight Frank, which is selling the
property, said: "A few years ago the property would almost certainly have
become an embassy, or an ambassador's residence. But we've hit a moment
when a lot of very rich people are looking for a home in London. And there
is nowhere in London quite like Kensington Palace Gardens. We'd be very
happy, if say, David Beckham and Posh Spice expressed an interest."

The Crown Estate's restoration of the house, originally built in 1854, has
coincided with improvements made to the security arrangements at either end
of the private road. Kensington Palace Gardens is the base for a number of
diplomatic missions, including a house owned by the Russian Federation and
the Israeli embassy. The Norwegian ambassador lives next door to the
property.

The Crown Estate spent several millions on improvements to 15a Kensington
Palace Gardens, formerly the London headquarters of the Nigerian High
Commission. The work included refurbishment of all living quarters. An
orangery, echoing the design of the temperate house at Kew Gardens, was
also built at the back of the house. The orangery contains a 35ft swimming
pool, a steam bath and massage room. A private lift connects the master
bedroom to the pool, allowing the owner to take a discreet swim without any
staff seeing him in his dressing gown.

Many of the existing rooms have been restored in a 19th-century French
salon style that was popular at the time the house was built. The formal
dining room, which has room for 20 place settings, typifies this approach:
its slightly over-refined style may not be to every tycoon's taste, but the
Crown Estate says it is willing to rip out the fixtures and fittings it
installed - at a cost of £200,000 - if a potential buyer wants to bring in
his own.

The house, which totals 20,000 square feet in area, has only a small
garden. Its overall proportions, for a house of this significance, are
surprisingly modest: although there are four separate reception rooms,
there is no formal ballroom and the wine "cellar" is actually more of a
cupboard. Whether or not the Crown can achieve the asking price for this
property will largely depend on whether the market - at present underpinned
by a shortage of grand London properties - remains strong enough at this
level. Even the richest international clients may be put off by this
enormous price tag and the fact that the house is only available on a
99-year lease.

Overseas buyers may also be reluctant to invest in this property when a
similar house in an equally smart location in Paris might work out to be
cheaper. It is rare for a house such as this to be placed on the open
market. Properties in this league, such as Aubrey House in Kensington,
which sold for £20 million in 1997, reportedly to a member of the Rausing
"Tetrapak" dynasty, normally change hands discreetly.

Anyone buying the property will end up paying £1.2 million in stamp duty
and around £205,000 in solicitors' fees, which normally work out at half a
per cent of the purchase price. Knight Frank might normally expect
commission of £525,000 - one and a half per cent - on the sale of such a
property but Mr Crosthwaite insists that his agency's cut is "very small".

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£35m buys Europe's most expensive home - but ...url < 1K Download