A new permit suggests construction is about to resume on the world's tallest, vacant skyscraper that has stood unfinished in the city of Tianjin since 2015—a monument to that year's Chinese stock market crash. The 1,959-foot Goldin Finance 117 is just one of the unfinished skyscrapers in China's cities, and officials apparently have tired of the image and the effects, CNN reports. "The national government has made it clear it wants to stabilize the real estate market," said Qiao Shitong, a Duke University law professor who wrote two books on the subject. "It is signaling to the market—(it's) not only about the skyscrapers themselves."
Such towers "are not necessarily the most efficient projects and they are not necessarily making profits, but they are indicators," Qiao said. The government hopes completing Goldin Finance 117 will restore confidence in the market, he told CNN. Fei Chen, an urban design expert at the University of Liverpool, said restarting construction on the tower, and another in the city of Chengdu, does not signal there will be more buildings like those. "The government is conscious that although these projects have some positive effects on the area, they require too much investment and are not financially or environmentally sustainable," Chen said. Chinese agencies now limit new towers to 1,640 feet.
It looks like the Tianjin tower will get a new name; the defunct Goldin Properties Holdings is not mentioned on the $78 million permit. The building has been topped out, but it's not clear whether the final plans will follow the original ones, which called for offices and a five-star hotel on the top floors, plus an observation deck. The building was to be part of a larger development with villas, offices, a convention center, an entertainment center, and a polo club. The permit doesn't say whether that's still the plan. The permit does list an opening date of 2027, per Popular Science. (More China stories.)
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