Lebanese finance mogul Edmond Safra, who founded the Republic National Bank of New York, had an office kitted out with a number of security measures, including a separate elevator, a special kitchen and bedroom, and a bookcase that concealed a hidden door in the event of a sudden, necessary exit. Located on the top three floors of 452 Fifth Avenue, there were also unrealized plans for a helipad that resulted in a super-reinforced ceiling for his penthouse office. (In the end, sadly, poor Safra's pains were all for naught?he perished in a fire in Monaco that his bodyguard set.) Before this coveted commercial space hits the market, asking more than $100 per square foot, the landlord has to remove these protective trappings and make it all boring and normal. [WSJ]
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