Preparing for doomsday has become a luxurious trend among the elite, with celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tom Cruise investing in extravagant bunkers to guarantee their comfort in case of an apocalypse.
Zuckerberg is reportedly constructing a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker at his $100 million Hawaii compound. The bunker will feature a living space, a mechanical room and an escape hatch.
Similarly, Bill Gates is said to have bunkers under his homes.
In New York City, the challenge of limited space has led to innovative solutions for creating safe havens. Speaking to the New York Post, Christopher Pollack, managing partner of Pollack + Partners, shared insights into adapting apartment spaces into secure rooms.
"In an apartment you don’t have a lot of space to just dedicate to the safe room," Pollack said, noting that master closets, equipped with food and water storage and a bathroom, are often transformed into temporary safe zones.
In a duplex apartment in Manhattan, he transformed two closets and a master bathroom into a cozy 300-square-foot retreat.
“It functioned every day as a closet and a master bathroom,” he added. “But in the event of like a dirty bomb in New York City, the family could go into that. It had special ventilation and food and water storage for a number of days.”
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Features of these safe rooms range from basic security enhancements to lavish underground bunkers with air filtration systems, medical supplies and luxury accommodations, according to the New York Post.
The cost of an effective, safe room can start at around $50,000 and exceed $1 million, depending on the level of sophistication and amenities included.
This trend reflects a broader societal movement towards disaster preparedness, with approximately 29% of adult Americans spending $11 billion on doomsday preparations over 12 months.
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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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