World's Largest Penthouse

COSTA RICA - With many apartments around the world already approaching the size of small train stations, a development in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, raises the bar several notches with a unit billed as the "world's largest penthouse." Genesis Puntarenas will be topped with an apartment weighing in at 68,459-square feet, complete with helipad, tennis court and swimming pool, says Caspi International, the project's Chicago-based developer. The price tag on the 10-bedroom, 14-bath apartment: $50 million.

Nitpickers will certainly note that the square footage includes the tennis court and helipad, but Caspi president Michael Caspi says the penthouse is easily more than twice the size of any competitor.

"We did extensive research regarding other penthouses in the world," Caspi said in an e-mail. "The closest competitor to date is the triple-level Cesar Penthouse located in the Crimson Sails complex in Moscow, which measures in at 18,299 square feet."

Even in the age of Dubai excess, the Puntarenas plan is audacious. The penthouse of the Trump International Hotel and Tower on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai reportedly sold for $30 million, making it the "most expensive penthouse in Dubai." But news reports peg the size of the penthouse at about 10,000-square-feet, which seems to be the sweet spot for over-the-top penthouse decadence.

In New York, the apartment Curbed.com calls the "hands-down craziest unit" in Philippe Starck's 15 Broad Street—the "Downtown Palace of Insanity—is a relatively puny 9,600 square feet, with 23-bedrooms and 11-baths priced at a just-reduced $15.5 million.

Sales launched last month on the 47-unit Genesis Puntarenas, which will also represent Costa Rica's "first all-glass multifamily residential building," with floor-to-ceiling retractable glass walls and "expansive private all-glass terraces," according to a press release. The one- to four-bedroom units range from $473,000 to $3.3 million.

But it's the jaw-dropping dimensions of the penthouse that is sure to attract attention.

Of course, it's worth noting that massive penthouses with cool renderings are announced all the time, only to get sliced up when they don't sell. There are more buyers for $5 million apartments than $50 million units, developers quickly learn.

For example, the Trump Soho in New York City once trumpeted a 10,000-square-foot penthouse billed as the "largest suite on the East Coast." But now that the tower is ready to open, the largest suite is about 2,300 square-feet, according to a press release.

Plus Costa Rica is, as they say, no Dubai. The size and price tag are wildly out of line for typical Costa Rica buyers, who tend more toward Texas cattle ranchers than Middle East sheiks.

But Caspi says he is committed to the massive penthouse.

"We want to differentiate ourselves while making a statement on the level of exclusivity the Genesis Puntarenas condo owners will have," Caspi said.