In Kuwait's plans for Silk City (Madinat Al Hareer), no one will ever be more than three blocks from water or gardens. A vast National Wildlife Refuge is in the works. And medical treatment along with fresh, healthy food will be accessible on foot for 80% of residents. The centerpiece of the hugely ambitious project will be the tallest building in the world, the Mubarak al Kabir Tower, at 200 stories and comprised of seven distinct "vertical neighborhoods." (Fun fact: the tower will reach to 1,001 meters, an imposing physical reference to the Arabian Nights tale.) Add to that the four main quadrants of the city: Finance City, Leisure City (I'm totally moving there), Culture City and Ecologic City, and what is ostensibly an architectural feat becomes an experiment in crafting entire ways of life. With government investment of $132 billion, London-based design firm CivicArts/Eric R. Kuhne are ready to break ground ... and continue its labors until the estimated date of completion for Silk City, 2023.

Investors in the project state that their hopes to renew Kuwait's cultural influence are highly motivational, and the idea is based on the crucial links established over a thousand years ago when Kuwait was a center on the silk trade routes. Now planning to link itself with cities like Damascus and Baghdad, stretching ultimately all the way to China, Kuwait intends to reestablish its connectivity in more than just symbolic measure.

Clearly imitative of nearby architectural playgrounds like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Silk City and all its outrageous goals does come off feeling a bit more commercial than its underlying motives might imply. They're tossing around terms like the "Arabian Riviera" and plan to incorporate such enclaves as "Film City" and multiple "pleasure facilities." Maybe it's that the intentions aren't just outrageous but highly-regimented. The planners are busy designing 28 different "lifestyle zones" specifically branded by interest (sports, film, media, etc.). While all the bells and whistles sound pretty awesome (in the true sense of the word) the overly manufactured quality of every detail -- especially the neighborhoods, oops "lifestyle zones," which force homogeneity not diversity -- make this huge community appear rather disconnected after all.

I guess we'll have to reevaluate in 2023. But judging from a fairly recent visit to Dubai, a model of speedy construction and ambitious contemporary architecture, I'd be willing to bet Silk City is operational much before then. Those oil prices don't hurt the timeline, either.

Versace has another high profile design job in New York City. The luxury brand which furnished apartments in the Plaza last year will also will design the interior renovation of New York's Clock Tower building on Madison Avenue. The New York landmark was bought by Lev Leviev's Africa Israel company for $200 million last year and has said they will spend two years and around $110 million renovating the complex. The end result will be 55 units including a large penthouse, a spa and an exclusive club. Previous Versace designs have been rendered in black and white with lavish gold details but their recent furniture show in April, shown in the gallery below, revealed a softer side.

All of Los Angeles is buzzing over the news of Candy Spelling's big real estate move. The 62-year-old wife of the late Aaron Spelling is planning to move out of her mansion, a 123-room, 56,500-square-foot mansion on six acres in the Holmby Hills area, and into a condo. But don't feel too sorry for Candy, while her new home will be less than a third the size of the old one, it is still a whopping 16,500 square feet and sits atop The Century building which is being built next door to the Century Plaza Hotel on Avenue of the Stars. The condo will have 360-degree views of the city all the way to the ocean.

Spellings new condo went for $2,848 per square foot which works out to an astounding $47 million, a record for a Los Angeles condo. The LA Times has a few details of Candy's new two-story pad. The lower floor will include a living room with two working fireplaces, a dining room for 25 guests, and staff quarters while the top floor will be home to the bedrooms, a massage room, exercise room, conservatory with rose garden, swimming pool and a deck. The master suite alone is 4,000 square feet. She will move in next year which means that the Spelling mansion may soon be on the market. Rumors of offers have been swirling for a while but we could even see a listing now unless it sells quickly and privately to someone willing to spend around $150 million for a home with a bowling alley and a gift wrapping room among its many luxuries.

Financial whiz turned "lifestyle designer" Richard Nilsson apparently felt that plain old luxury had lost its luster, so he decided to focus on "extreme luxury." When he was running a business empire Nilsson was only able to take one week off per year, so for his first project he came up with the "Résidence Supérieur" concept as an ultimate retreat where vacationing moguls and movie stars could pack as much luxury and privacy into their vacation as possible, cost be damned.

The first RS is the Villa Oxygene in Cannes on the French Riviera. In addition to ultra-luxe surroundings, it includes exotic sports cars, a private jet and helicopter, yacht, butler, chef, bodyguards and basically anything else you could wish for. Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria recently shot an ice cream commercial there, and Nilsson is now planning other equally outrageous outposts. See the gallery for pix.

Auction company Sheldon Good is at it again, this time in Alabama selling off 35 condos in the San Carlos condominium project on the Gulf Coast. The condos are two and three bedroom units, 15 of which were priced to sell at nearly $850,000 and will have suggested opening bids of $200,000. The area is also in the GO Zone, which means the units are eligible for certain tax incentives designed to spur growth in the hurricane-devastated region. The building is a 20-story, high-rise building fronting the beach. It was built in 2006 and there are nine units per floor. The building includes a beachfront outdoor pool, fitness room with sauna and a banquet room.

The auction will take place Aug. 17 at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel in Mobile, Alabama at noon. Open houses are currently available Wednesday through Sunday in the afternoons.

[via Birmingham Business Journal]

There are many creative ways to sell condos in these desperate times. I've seen developers offer up free cars, trips, bottles of wine, resale guarantees and yes, I've seen plenty of contests but this is the first one I've seen with a spokesmodel. A developer in Canton, Massachusetts has had some trouble selling their Canton Park condo complex so they are giving away one in a $50-per-entry contest with YouTube videos hosted by the lovely Gisele Sterling in a bikini.

The unit is worth $235,000 and to win the free condo, you'll have to submit the best written essay or YouTube video on one of four topics: why you are Boston's biggest sports fan, your most embarrassing moment, what super power you wish you had, or a showcase of your or your pet's unique talents. The contest hopes not only to get rid of one unit but hopefully to attract attention to the complex so others sell too. It got my attention. Entrants have until September 30 to enter the contest.

[via Boston Herald]

The Sapphire Tower condominium project in downtown San Diego takes a unique approach to attracting attention by using public art. While most public art is at the base of a structure, the Sapphire Tower's Borgonovo sculpture will stretch 80 feet from tip to tail. The design from artist Betsy Schulz is a modern metal and glass structure with two different textured glass colors set as the shimmering gemstones. Borgonovo will be made of two-tiered mesh, aluminum panels, textured and laminated blue and clear glass, and blue-LED string lights to illuminate the glass at night. Borgonovo is one of two major art pieces being installed at Sapphire Tower both designed by Schultz and costing just under a half a million dollars total.

Sapphire Tower is a 32-story project located on the southwest corner of Kettner Boulevard and A Street in downtown San Diego. The project will include 97 units in one and two bedroom, loft and penthouse layouts. Building amenities include a pool, hot tub, sundeck and gym. The building is set to be finished by the end of the year and prices start in the $600,00s with penthouses starting at $2.5 million.

The historic Oak Bay Beach Hotel in Victoria, Canada is becoming the first combined luxury hotel and private residence in Victoria. The 100-room hotel will have 20 full-ownership suites that will open in the fall of 2010, just in time for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Walker Hospitality opened registration to buyers who may be interested. The Walkers plan to restore the hotel's luxury by including the lobby fireplace, Tudor facade and even the original Snug Pub beer mug. The development also calls for modern interior updates and a touch of green, the project is aiming for LEED Gold certification. The residential suites are penthouse and sub-penthouse units with views of the Pacific and the San Juan Islands. They range in size from 857 sq. ft. to 2,285 sq. ft. and prices start at $1 million.

Another big residential project has hit the skids and this one's a biggie. The Lumiere tower in Leeds, England was set to be tallest residential tower in Western Europe. Now plans for the £225m development and its 992 units are on hold, ostensibly until the market gets a little better and the economy is stronger. The project was halted after the foundations were finished and the developer plans to pick up where they left off once conditions improve. The developer says this could be as early as November but I bet it could be a bit longer than that.

The skyline of Paris has remained relatively unchanged for the last 18 years but the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, is seeking to change that and has presented a bold new plan to the city council. It's currently against regulations to build higher than 37 meters (121.4 feet) in the capital and there hasn't been a new skyscraper built in 18 years. But Delanoë believes that new buildings could help ease the city's housing shortage. Even though nearly two-thirds of Parisians are said to be against relaxing the building rules, the mayor said that a public official's responsibility is to act in the best interest of the public rather than just pay attention to polls.

The council has voted in favor of studying the plan and the citizens will be allowed to weigh in at a conference next year. The plans include a 200 metre pyramidal tower next to the Porte de Versailles with a four-star hotel but other planned residential projects are in the 50 meter range. Advocates say this type of architecture is necessary in order for Paris to compete with other "global cities" like London, Tokyo and New York. Critics say that Paris is beautiful as is and that dramatic new architecture would damage the city's famous charm. Check out the potential new Paris in the gallery below.

Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld's already packed schedule is getting a little busier. The quirky fashion icon has signed a deal with Dubai Infinity Holdings to design limited edition homes on Isla Moda, the world's first dedicated fashion island, located on Dubai's The World project. Lagerfeld will design 80 homes total.

Lagerfeld has designed for Chanel and for his own lines for years, is also a photographer and has created campaigns for brands such as Dom Perignon. He has opened a bookshop on the leftbank of Paris and start a new venture as a publisher of art books with his publication house, 7L. He has designed his own homes but this is his first commercial residential project. In a press release, Lagerfeld described Dubai as "a fashion bud on the verge of blossoming into the next fashion hub of the world."

Isla Moda will include a fashion hotel and a variety of luxury residential villas. The Hotel Moda will have approximately 250 rooms and serviced apartments as well as boutiques representing the world's most prominent designers.. There will also be design studios and dedicated areas for fashion shows and project launches. Isla Moda is set to open in 2011.

Just a year ago I was writing about booming sales at the Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho. Now a Wall Street Journal article reports that the luxury ski resort is in big trouble now that financing for the project has dried up.

Tamarack was welcomed with acclaim when it was announced in 2003 and so far buyers have committed more than $500 million for condos, houses and building sites bringing a big rush of Aspen-style prosperity to the area. Tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were attached to building a luxury hotel complex, the Fairmont Tamarack Local stores and restaurants flourished, jobs abounded and rents rose. But last winter the building slowed. The ski town's lifts still ran but tourism fell and unemployment rose.

Things started to go south around a year ago when the investor who had already put up money for the Fairmont Tamarack decided not to put up any more money for the project. This led the developers to slow construction. Combine this with the nationwide real estate droop and you have a recipe for a boom town gone bust. Tamarack went into default on its loan payments to the Credit Suisse bank and business entities involved in the project have filed for bankruptcy. Credit Suisse then followed with a foreclosure suit and is now looking to take over Tamarack's majority-ownership stake. The town, which was once a timber town and was hoping for an economic resurgence is now grappling with seeing tourism cut in half and the eyesore of an unfinished base village for the ski resort. The resort still expects to run lifts over the winter but the dream of a new prosperous winter resort town in Idaho is dead for the moment.

A famed Art Deco hotel on the Côte d'Azur that's been derelict since 1973 is being turned into a luxury apartment building catering to the bon ton. Developer Cyril Dennis is relaunching Le Provençal, on the border between Juan-les-Pins and Cap d'Antibes, where the likes of Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald once frolicked.

The London Telegraph reports that Dennis is transforming the 45,000-sq.ft. beachside property, built in 1925, into 56 luxury units with 360-degree views, indoor / outdoor pools, private gardens, Porsche kitchens, marble floors, Turkish baths and aquariums. He describes the Provençal as "the last jewel in the Cap d'Antibes," an area where top-drawer villas now go for over $200 million thanks to an influx of superrich oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich.

Atlanta's condo market may be slowing down but that doesn't stop people from building and planning. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles Taz Anderson, a local entrepreneur who is behind a new luxury residential tower in Vinings. Anderson and his son Geoff, president of Taz Anderson Realty Co., are working on a condo project called The Aberdeen, an upscale residential development in Vinings with 55 units, some up to 4,000 square feet.

The 12-story tower will have views of downtown Atlanta and Buckhead. The project takes its Scottish name seriously and the units all have names of Scottish origin. A penthouse is listed at $2.9 million. Eleven buyers have reportedly signed contracts thus far. A healthy number but a little shy of what is generally considered enough sales to build. Given the precarious state of several other Atlanta projects it seems to be a bit of a dice roll.

There are few places more idyllic to be on a summer holiday weekend than Nantucket, the beautiful island of the coast of Cape Cod. Now there is a new way to experience the Nantucket getaway without owning property or staying in a one of the island's inns. Harborview is a string of 10 intown, waterfront, urban-chic cottages with concierge service. There are one-, two- or three-bedroom units available. The units are available in one-eighth shares ( six weeks ownership) and prices range from $550,000 to $950,000. Potential buyers who want to own an entire unit will be paying $2.4 to $4.6 million depending on unit size.