Anyone want a Swiss penthouse?

Touted as the last word in luxury, it's not surprising that the developer behind the most expensive property in Switzerland, Du Parc Kempinski Private Residences, was in the Middle East this month to find buyers for its three multi-million-dirham penthouses.

Swiss Development Group, the developer which undertook a €140 million (Dh668m) renovation of the famous Belle Époque Hotel du Parc, located at Mont Pelerin in Chardonne close to Lake Geneva, has sold 15 of the 24 luxury flats where the likes of Victor Hugo and Pierre Cardin once hung out.

Modern celebrities too have been attracted by the project with interest shown, according to the developer, from the actress Sharon Stone and the basketball player Tony Parker. With prices estimated to be around 6 million Swiss francs (Dh18.2m) for a two-bedroom flat, the development is certainly exclusive.

The flats, all of which display picture-postcard views over the Unesco World Heritage site slopes of the Dent du Midi mountain range and Lake Geneva, include all mod cons including a bath which you can text to fill up while you're out on a walk and a fridge which will phone the local supermarket and arrange a delivery when you run out of milk.

And now the developer is on the lookout in Dubai and Doha to find a buyer for three penthouses ranging between 500 and 700 square metres which it said could well be knocked together into one palatial abode for the right purchaser.

"We are very confident the penthouses will go to this market, probably with one person taking the whole lot," said Edgar Van Schaik, director of Rockefellerestates, the property agent for all SDG projects. "Our roadshow this time is to Dubai and Doha and then we will be back again in April to include more destinations."

But, having been launched nearly three years ago and still with five flats left which are eligible to be bought by non-resident investors, is the developer disappointed with the sales so far?

"I am disappointed by the market interest in Switzerland," says Nicolas Garnier, the chief executive of Swiss Development Group. "Du Parc has not been understood by everyone."

lbarnard@thenational.ae