Wealthy are building underground living areas around the globe

Yahoo Real Estate Article

In Los Angeles, builder Mauricio Oberfeld has buried about a third of his home underground: He built a contemporary 9,000-square-foot house for his family with a 3,000-square-foot basement. Glass stairwells lead to a lower level with an ornately tiled spa, large office, wine room and movie theater.

His 3,000 square foot basement is larger than my 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house.

Formula 1 racing heiress Tamara Ecclestone is adding two underground stories totaling 5,000 square feet to her 17,000-square-foot home in London's Kensington neighborhood, purchased last year for $70 million.

Ms. Ecclestone's home is in London.

"Everyone's digging these days," she says.

Good to know!

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has filed an application to replace a single-story 3,000-square-foot beach house in La Jolla, Calif., with a 7,400-square-foot home with an additional 3,600 square feet of finished underground space

Even the man most likely to be the next President is jumping on the bandwagon.

What is the reason? According to the article:

Some luxury-home builders are aiming to avoid the exterior footprint of a megamansion—without sacrificing the square footage or oversized amenities. Others are looking for a way around development restrictions that limit home sizes above ground.

There are a couple of ridiculous pictures accompanying this article including one with a half-pipe.

My immediate thoughts:

While the reasoning of building underground to reduce the mega-mansion above ground and to avoid building restrictions does seem valid, I always thought to myself that there was nothing to worry about until rich people started making moves on a large scale.

With that in mind, if I were going to build underground because I could afford to and I felt the need to, for whatever reason, I can't imagine building a half-pipe in some of my space. On the other hand, if you expect to not go outdoors for an extended amount of time, a half-pipe makes perfect sense. Another guy included a small golf course.

So, more rich folks being ostentatious, or jumping on the doomsday bandwagon?

Mods please move if posted in the wrong forum, thanks.

The are jumping on the bandwagon, its a just in case type thing. That's my opinion.

I don't get it. If your going to put all that money into an underground shelter, why have it an extension of your home. I'd have mine at least a few acres from any home and well-hidden. For sure wouldn't want some reporter writing an article about it.

Sounds like fun. But not for the right reasons. Hahaha!

most of these wealthy elites couldn't even change a flat tire, boil water or change a light bulb literally.

all they are building are their tombs.

because a 25 megaton direct hit thermonuclear weapon in the heart of london will cave in any bunker and leave it and any escape route buried under tonnes of rubble for several years.

and in that case it means global nuclear war. there will be no government, government services, electricity, gasoline, hospitals etc or anybody to dig you out.

it will be the end of civilization. there will only be survivors begging for a death that won't come.

the best place you can go isn't any bunker. it is your nearest church so you can die in peace.

Can you blame them? its like bomb shelters for the rich and shameless..except the question is...what good is it if you cant get to it in time..?

reply to post by Logitech411


Perhaps they get a heads up, they are the rich after all.

When all the elite rulers and the super-wealthy go underground, can we just lock the doors?
Just thinking out loud...

reply to post by BrittanyLea


If they are ...rich, who is to say that they are not doing that as well?
old adage if you have one, you have none.
If you have two, you have one.

Underground - Overground

5 years or 10 years

they will have to come out one day

and reap what they have sown.

I won't be tying a yellow ribbon for them.

well seems you have your own ppl posting.....just duds. the word rich well it a funny word these days rich it not a person dripping in gold or wealth is it....rich well a strange word oh did i even spell it correct. rich seems like a word that means stolen..rich oh even the spelling rich I thought spelt a person of wealth but rich no longer is wealth just a word..rich does that word sound or read like a person with money cos I thought it did now that word looks dumb ..rich it no longer looks wealthy but stupid..rich I thought I meant a word to discribe a wealthy person rich.why does it look out of place.

Check out the article link in this thread. www.abovetopsecret.com...

It talks about one of the companies that builds these, and a whole lot more.

And yes, this is also a shameless plug.

The first awful survivalist mistake that a lot of well off to wealthy people make is moving into a neighborhood of other wealthy people. Bunker of no bunker, people are going to want what you have. A bunker in the middle of a neighborhood sounds like a death trap to me.

A lot of people don't understand that sometimes it's actually cheaper to move into the country. We're about to close on a house on 4 acres 20 min. from a small town and we're getting it for less than 100k. It's a nice place and I love it, but everyone wants to be in a neighborhood, so they can show off to their neighbors.

The underground room they are telling you about is to get the equipment there. Once there you can dig a hole anywhere and hide it. At least... If I was rich and was used to screwing people thats how i would do it. Put a whole new underground house and no one would know cause I would show them the one I had a permit for.

Originally posted by Logitech411
Can you blame them? its like bomb shelters for the rich and shameless..except the question is...what good is it if you cant get to it in time..?

If it's less than 30 feet below the surface, they are wasting their time.

I have often thought about building a bunker under my house but seeing as I live in a flat its a bit impractical, however should my lucky numbers come up then I would seriously think about it, but I also see it from the publics point of view and which I think is a great idea for the rich elites to build bunkers in their houses.
Sure they can fortify them but when the time comes and they scarper to the safety of it all it means is that any of the public so minded will know where they are and it will be like shooting fish in a barrel, or better yet, stay outside with an armed mob and watch them suffocate or starve to death for wanting to look after themselves instead of worrying about the whole of humanity, oh how they will regret their life choices.
Good riddance to them I say.

reply to post by randomname

because a 25 megaton direct hit thermonuclear weapon in the heart of london will cave in any bunker and leave it and any escape route buried under tonnes of rubble for several years.

Well perhaps they aren't afraid of nuclear war. Perhaps they know something you don't.

"What you see from the street looks pretty low-key," Mr. Oberfeld says of the home, completed in 2010. "I don't like to be ostentatious and showing the world."

This made me lol considering he showed off in the article...

In Los Angeles, builder Mauricio Oberfeld has buried about a third of his home underground: He built a contemporary 9,000-square-foot house for his family with a 3,000-square-foot basement. Glass stairwells lead to a lower level with an ornately tiled spa, large office, wine room and movie theater.

Also, I think it's just a building trend. Not the rich prepping for doomsday scenarios. Half pipes, swimming pools and golf courses are not a wise investment for the rise of the Zombies. I don't think we will ever see how the rich rally prep. Not even because they may know something, but because they would be to embarrassed to admit fear.