A garage Batman would envy
A Lake Tahoe house on the market includes a 6,000-square-foot underground garage that uses an aircraft carrier elevator to access cars.
If you're a soon-to-be Facebook millionaire wondering how to spend your newfound wealth, perhaps you can add "subterranean garage accessible only by aircraft carrier elevator" to your wish list.
Making the rounds on the Internet is a video clip from the television show "Million Dollar Rooms" that highlights the engineering wonder that is Tom Gonzales' 6,000-square-foot underground garage. He's one of Silicon Valley's original high-flying tech titans who made his money when he, along with his late son Tom Gonzales Jr., founded Commerce One.
Gonzales sunk a large portion of the money he made riding the enterprise software wave of the late '90s into his custom Lake Tahoe house, Sierra Star, that's now on the market for $50 million. In addition to million-dollar views and a 30-car garage in the carriage house, the lakefront property also boasts a now-not-so-secret underground garage large enough to fit nine buses.
Hidden underneath fake rocks and trees on the driveway is the garage's only entrance: a hydraulic elevator that fits three cars and supports up to 250,000 pounds. Approximately 800 pounds of hydraulic fuel help power what is essentially an aircraft carrier lift, and consumes $25 worth of electricity every time it's operated.
(Source: Gizmodo)