LIVING IN A BOX PIONEER SOOTHES HIMSELF AS THAI BOXES TOPPLE

– GIRLS, DIAMONDS AND ROCK’N ROLL AS
WHITESTONE TAKES THE BACKSEAT BABY!

So who is this guy in these pictures here with a gun above and on the far left with the cigar?  A rock star? A member of the Cosa Nostra? An agent for the I.R.S?

No. He is another foreign property developer in Thailand. Actually he is from Norway. He’s very rich and has been described in the Norwegian press as a ‘disputed property shark’.

I stress disputed. He also builds hutches for young people in Oslo in a project called ‘Living in a Box’. Oh, and he is also a bit of a rock star by the way.

Property ‘journalists’ in Thailand have been fawning over him. But then again they fawn over almost any developer.

His name is Arne Hvidsten – Hvidsten translates by the way as Whitestone and here he is again below on the right in his more glam role. But I do not think many woman are swooning and throwing their knickers on to the stage.

The thing about Arne is that he is another chap who has been selling property which does not seem to get off the ground. 

Well, his high-rise luxury state of the art condo in Jomtien is the subject of some controversy, let alone his acting and rock star debuts.

Here below is the flagship project called ‘The Beach’. It just made it to the second floor before building work was packed in. According to the net he had pre-sold a third of the units.

The blurb

Actually this project some five years on still looks like this

Or this

Still when the going gets tough Arne can drown his sorrow in booze and bimbettes. The V sign below I hope is not his message to punters who want their money back.

This is what Jørgen Saltnes wrote about Arne in Ne Nyheter in Oslo.

 Arne Hvidsten became one of the most controversial housing developers when he sold expensive new apartments with low deposits and soaring public debt of young homebuyers. 

Icon concepts and Living in a Box received sharp criticism from the Consumer Council and the media for “misleading”  first time buyers into new homes with very high prices per square meter. 

Eventually he traveled to Thailand as a property developer to develop luxury apartments for western tourists. 

The Beach Project met with problems and was vulnerable. In January this year, however, newspapers in Thailand stated that the project had changed its name and was relaunched again. 

Meanwhile, Arne Hvidsten spent time on less lucrative causes. In an e-mail sent to various business associates and other acquaintances Hvidsten told about his new career as a “rock star”.   With the stage name Whitestone Hvidsten hired Mikkey Dee of Motörhead, scantily clad women and comedian Morten Ramm to spice up his new music video. 

“Thanks for all your support for the release of my first single” wrote Hvidsten in English to his email contacts. He urges fans to support him on Facebook, so that you can increase the number of fans from the current 77. 

“I need all the support I can get, trying to show that you do not need to be 22 years and sign up for American Idol (or Norwegian Idol for that matter) to rock a little bit. Anyway, this is my hobby, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.”

Ok lets hear you Arne. Give us a song Arne!