Yes, that gleaming US$330,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith coupe parked in the driveway comes with the mega-mansion. As does the matching black, ultra-rare US$600,000-and-up Ferrari 599 GTO. Same goes for the fully custom, mustard-yellow Harley-Davidson Ultra Glide parked, as a piece of art, in the hallway.
Then there are the extravagant sculptures from Finnish artist Eero Arnio and French artist Richard Orlinsky. Plus, a Champagne vault stocked with Cristal and vintage Dom Pérignon. And why not a vodka bar groaning with magnums of Stoli and Belvedere? Everything is included, just take the keys.
It’s all part of a somewhat bizarre story surrounding this over-the-top 14,000-square-foot mega-mansion, called One100, on Dubai’s palm-tree shaped, man-made Palm Jumeirah island. Completed just a week ago for a Swedish entrepreneur, it’s suddenly now on the market for US$32.67 million (nearly RM140 million).
Seems the owner, 43-year-old Michael Alibhai—his Dubai-based company designs and manufactures clothing for top European fashion labels likes of Zara, Mango, Diesel, Reiss and Zadig & Voltaire—has decided he needs to move back to his native Sweden and be with family.
That means this truly spectacular, waterfront mega-mansion that he spent nine long years sweating over every detail, is on the block without him ever spending a single night there.
“Just as I have completed this piece of art, I came to realise the importance of family,” he told Arabian Business magazine. “I have been missing out on valuable moments in life and having close friends passing away during Covid-19 forced me to reconsider my life.”
Alibhai reportedly bought the prime beachfront lot overlooking the Arabian Gulf in 2011. Working with top South African architects SAOTA, he created this lavish, three-story mansion and loaded it with the very best-of-the-best amenities.
A snapshot of those features includes five oversized bedroom suites, including a 1,300-square-foot master with a closet and dressing room worthy of a Rodeo Drive designer boutique.
In addition, there are eight extravagant bathrooms lined with book-matched Italian marble. And throughout the home there’s not one, but three industrial-grade kitchens and three distinctively different bars.
To take in the home’s city and water views, the first floor living area has full-width pocket doors that open the double-height room to the neon-lit lap pool with its submerged table and chairs.
According to the listing, every stick of furniture in the mansion is a bespoke, one-of-a-kind creation from the likes of Fendi and Bentley Home, with much of the interior soft furnishings by Louis Vuitton and Hermès.
For entertainment there are two outdoor cinemas: one on the ground-level, the other on the sprawling roof deck alongside an oversized, bubbling hot tub.
For more formal movie nights, there’s the second-floor, indoor theater with its IMAX screen, 4K projector and Dolby ATMOS surround sound system—all enjoyed beneath a twinkling, star-lit ceiling. If you crave candy with your blockbuster, one entire hallway is decadently lined with a complete wall of tall glass tubes dispensing sugary treats.
The contemporary art greets visitors at the door, with a whimsical, chest-beating gorilla sculpture at the entry-way, and continues with full-size chrome alligators beneath the open staircase and by the pool, along with a shiny, red Mickey Mouse in the style of American pop-artist Jeff Koons. The piece de resistance? Arguably the nine-foot-tall “Bumble Bee” from the Transformers movie.
Explaining the background to all this extravagance, Alibhai says: “I wanted to blow people’s minds when they would visit me. Before this, I never ever saw a project that would blow my mind.”
Leigh Borg, of Dubai-based Gulf Sotheby’s International Realty, holds the listing for this one-of-a-kind property. We’re sure he also holds—tightly— the keys to the Rolls-Royce and Ferrari, too.
Sotheby’s International Realty
