Escala Tower; VintageIf you've read Fifty Shades of Grey, then you know some seriously scandalous (OK, pornographic) scenes go down at the luxurious Escala condos in Seattle, Wash. that billionaire Christian Grey calls home.
Forget Forks (and Twilight, for that matter)! It's all about the high-rise condominium where author E.L. James found inspiration for the sadomasochistic saga. So get ready to get your S&M on and step into the real red room, Awful readers!
We've got pics inside the pornographic penthouse plus some exclusive commentary from the real estate agency being bombarded by the sexually-charged fandom.
The apartment is in Belltown—an upscale Seattle neighborhood—and the penthouse boasts a private spa, a gym with a yoga studio, private dining room, full catering kitchen, dining area with room for 140, theater room and dog run. Not to mention the stunning views of the Seattle skyline (secret sex room not included).
Basic models at the Escala start around $400,000, but penthouses run anywhere between $4 million and $6 million—meaning this pad's certainly in the casual $6 mil range.
Sounds fit for a billionaire and the par-fait setting for the steamy dominant-submissive sex scenes, right?
Actually, according to Brad S. Golik, President of Luxury Estate Online, which features the Escala condos, E.L. James could have picked a better pad for the pornographic prose:
"I don't know if this is the perfect setting or not," Golik 'fessed, while suggesting a different condo. "While the penthouse at the Escala is very nice, I am not so sure it is 'billionaire' nice! The beauty of film is that anything can be made to look as they want."
Touché! Perhaps E.L. James didn't do her proper luxury condo research? Nah, those pics look pretty damn impressive if ya ask us (although we're hardly S&M real estate experts).
What's more, the Escala condos might want to send E.L. James a thank you note—fans flocked to the condo when it hit the market and suddenly the upscale property is in high demand:
"The interest in Fifty Shades of Grey is bringing much traffic to our website, traffic in the last week alone has quadrupled on a daily basis, so people are wanting to check things out," Golik explained.
But don't book your plane ticket just yet—the building is only available for tours by appointment and potential buyers must now be pre-qualified.
Hmm...wonder went down behind those condo walls to put that screening process in place?
Oh the powers of mommy porn...