The condo will have 132 units over 57 stories, with larger units sporting up to four parking spaces per unit. Porsche didn’t have to go far for inspiration, as the tower is similar in design to Volkswagen’s Autostadt in Wolfsberg, Germany, shown above, a 20-story robotic parking garage that VW uses to deliver cars to new buyers. Really, it’s the only way to valet.”

Also written up in the Miami Herald.
“Pull over into the designated space. Turn off the engine. And enjoy the oceanfront view as you escalate in a glass elevator that takes you, while you are sitting in your car, to the front door of your apartment.

No, this is not the latest Disney ride.

The $560 million Jetsonesque tower will rise in Sunny Isles Beach as part of a collaboration between Germany-based Porsche Design Group and a local developer, Gil Dezer. It likely will be the world’s first condominium complex with elevators that will take residents directly to their units while they are sitting in their cars.

“You don’t have to leave your car until you are in front of your apartment,” said Juergen Gessler, CEO of Porsche Design Group.

Here is how it will work: After the resident pulls over and switches off the engine, a robotic arm that works much like an automatic plank will scoop up the car and put it into the elevator. Once at the desired floor, the same robotic arm will park the car, leaving the resident nearly in front of his front door. Voila, home!

The glass elevators will give residents and their guests unparalleled views of the city or of the ocean during their high-speed ride, expected to last 45 to 90 seconds.

“What this is really doing is taking two technologies that have existed for centuries and putting them together,” said Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Properties. “It’s taking the robotic arm and it’s putting it in an elevator.”

The building, to named Porsche Design Tower, was approved unanimously Thursday night by the Sunny Isles Beach City Commission. Before the meeting, Mayor Norman S. Edelcup said he had not heard any opposition to the plan.

The cylindrical building will be erected on 2.2 acres of land at 18555 Collins Avenue. The 57-story luxury tower will have 132 units. Smaller units will be allocated two parking spaces and larger ones will have four, with 284 robotic parking spaces in total. There will be three elevators.

Residents will be able to see their cars from their living rooms.

“So people with fancy cars and antiques, they will actually have a really nice view of them,’’ Dezer said.

Units will range from 3,800 to 9,500 square feet and could cost up to $9 million.

The car elevators are the latest twist on Miami Beach’s burgeoning passion for designer parking garages. The highly acclaimed 1111 Lincoln Road designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron opened in 2009; also planned are garages by London architect Zaha Hadid, Mexico’s Enrique Norten and Miami’s own Arquitechonica.

Dezer said his hopes are that many other buildings in the United States and the rest of the world will be constructed following the Porsche Design Tower model.

But this will be the first and last one in South Florida, he said.

“We want to keep this really exclusive and not have this become a McDonald’s kind of style. The tower is going to change the skyline of Miami Beach,” Dezer said. “This is something Floridians should be proud to have in their state.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/17/2507333/at-planned-miami-beach-condo-cars.html#storylink=cpy”

—Adam

It is for sale on eBay.

—Adam Wright

—Adam

Since we are talking about Porsche inspired furniture and accessories, another guy is doing 356 tables. Described by artist Don Ramsey,
“I am making some Porsche Art Pieces.
This is a 57 356A 644 Trans End Table. Beautiful Aluminum Case!
It has 3/8″ thick Glass with polished edges.
It is internally lit with a 3 position dimmer and you just touch it to activate the light.
Making things out of some of the stuff I have been collecting for the last 30 something years and that seams nobody wants.
I plan to Make 911 ones too.
It would LooK Great in you Gearhead Cave!”




If all this catches on you might be able to style a whole room in re-cycled Porsche parts! Doubt my wife would go for it, but some of you bachelor’s could probably pull it off.

—Adam

Which to me seems in direct conflict with the slogan Porsche used in their ads in the 60s that read,
“Great Cars Are Not Created By Committees”

I wonder what Ferry and Ferdinand would think of the company now?


—Adam

Here is a link to the storyhttp://autos.yahoo.com/news/willys–why-wouldn%E2%80%99t-he–icon-reimagines-the-willys-overland-cj3b.html

Don’t know how much it will take to have this one of a kind, or one of a 4800 kind piece of true art, but it is cool.

—Adam