please, may i park in the royal parking lot?

I've been looking for a new place to live for quite some time. Not seriously, of course, because I'm extremely picky and nothing seems to be good enough. I can't live in a house because the yard would quickly fall into a state of disrepair and my neighbours would despise me. In the interest of not finding dead bunnies on my porch, I'm looking at condos and lofts. All in all, my current place is great, and I'm really not home enough to care, which is probably why the search is going so slowly.

Well, a new building is planned 4-5 blocks from where I currently am, and there is much associated fanfare. Prices skyrocketed before units ever went up for sale, and the building won't even be completed until 2011. Yes, 5 years from now.

I went to the grand opening today. The air reeked of desperation. People were scrambling to buy whatever they could. And the prices were stupid, along with the fact that you have to pay a significant amount upfront long before even the building's foundation is completed.

But the thing that makes me the most crazy about the building is the parking. Here is the situation:
1. you can't get a parking spot unless you spend a minimum of $840K on your unit
2. the parking spots (for those who are allowed to purchase them) cost $50K.

I just want to point out that I don't live in NYC, Tokyo or London. When I mentioned to the guy that I currently live 4-5 blocks away and parking in my building regularly sells for $20-25K, he scoffed and told me that my building was clearly not that prestigious.

So I guess the price tag for prestige these days is $50K (not to mention the associated more than $800K for a unit).

Please.

RainyBow