nypost | When the going gets tough, the rich get going … to luxurious
underground bunkers. Suddenly, heading six feet under doesn’t sound so
bad, especially when the new digs often include pre-stocked food and
blast-proof doors.
Helicopters are on standby “if that moment comes,” says one bunker
specialist, to whisk elites into subterranean palaces with below-ground
swimming pools, tennis courts and gourmet food rations in spaces you’d
never know were originally designed for the military, both American and
Soviet.
If you’re not in the 1 percent, no problem, there are modest bunkers
available, as well, and even some reasonably-priced getaways above
ground.
Fast-talking entrepreneurs, boutique hotel owners and survivalists
are hoping to profit from the coronavirus pandemic by giving people a
route out of despair — and boredom — with varying degrees of success.
Real estate salesman Robert Vicino is literally sitting pretty when
it comes to his business — selling underground bunkers from the Black
Hills of South Dakota to a remote underground city in Rothenstein,
Germany. Unlike the millennial owner of a Manhattan startup who had to pull the plug on his luxe, mask-free spa last week, Vicino says business is booming in what survivalists call the “bug-out” business.
His company, Vivos,
also sells bunkers in Indiana and is planning new bunkers in Asia and
Marbella, Spain. He said sales are up 400% this year although his
cheaper properties (35,000 euros for a big bunker in South Dakota) are
selling faster than the 2 million euros, five-star Vivos Europa One underground apartments
carved into a German mountain, part of a facility originally used by
the Soviets to store munitions in case they invaded western Europe.
Vicino has been at the doomsday game since 2007 and it’s paying off
after a slight blip when a Mayan-predicted apocalypse in 2012 never
materialized and he had to dump plans for a 5,000-person bunker in Atchison, Kansas.
