Russian Oligarch Nabs $90 Million St. Bart’s Estate
A Cap d’Antibes chateau, eight apartments in London’s Lowndes Square, two multi-million-dollar homes in Colorado, a contemporary art collection valued at more than $100 million, England’s Chelsea Football Club, and a new, 540-plus-foot yacht poised to cost $300 million or more in building costs. What more could a billionaire want to add to his collection? How about a 70-acre Governor Bay beach estate in St. Bart’s, boasting Balinese bungalows with ocean views, tennis courts, swimming pools and music and dining pavilions.
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, 42, has purchased a $90 million estate in St. Bart’s from ATG co-founder Jeet Singh, The Wall Street Journal reported late last month. Christian Wattiau, managing partner of Sibarth Real Estate, a Christie’s Great Estates affiliate, handled both sides of the deal.
Once the governor of Russia’s ice-bound, far-eastern province of Chukotka, Abramovich owns a fleet of yachts that usually sail around the Mediterranean Sea off the coasts of Italy, Spain and France. The 377-foot Pelorus and 282-foot Ecstasea soon will be joined by Eclipse, the world’s biggest private yacht, which is in the final stages of construction by German ship builder Blohm & Voss. Abramovich’s newest toy recently has started its sea trials off Hamburg and will be completed late this year or early next year. Features of the mega-yacht include two helipads, a swimming pool and a personal submarine. Eclipse reportedly will be equipped with an antipaparazzi “shield”—read more about this new technology by clicking here
In the United States, Abramovich’s real estate acquisitions include two homes in Snowmass, Colorado—a 5,600-square-foot ski-in, ski-out home he purchased last February for $11.8 million, as well as a 200-acre custom-furnished ranch in Wildcat Ridge he purchased two months later.
Click here to read the full article, including details of Abramovich’s influence in the world of contemporary art.
–Sarah Binder
