10 of the tallest abandoned skyscrapers around the world

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10 of the tallest abandoned skyscrapers around the world

Iconic skylines are one way to immediately identify some cities.

Some

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haven’t stood the test of time, becoming abandoned or remaining incomplete.

Cities must figure out what to do with the structures, and the cost of revitalization can be huge.

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often create a city’s iconic skyline, yet sometimes its tallest buildings can fall into disrepair or remain unfinished.

While

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can become symbolic of a location’s financial or social struggles, cities still have to decide what to do with them. Some are left to rust, others are demolished, and a few become revitalized.

In the mid-20th century, many

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in the US went under the wrecking ball. That’s not the best option from a sustainability standpoint, Shawn Ursini, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s (CTBUH) senior building database manager, told Business Insider.

“A lot of these buildings can still have a lot of life left in them,” he said. “We just maybe need to get a bit more creative as to what their purpose is going forward.”

He added that the CTBUH doesn’t have a designation for

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since it doesn’t track buildings’ occupancy once they’re completed. However, the organization does keep tabs on the many buildings worldwide that are on hold.

“Generally speaking, when a project goes on hold, there is still an attempt to finish it,” Ursini said, although these

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.

Here are 10 of the tallest skyscrapers around the world that now sit empty or uncompleted — and how they ended up that way.

Beirut Trade Center, Beirut (459 feet)

The Burj al-Murr or Beirut Trade Center, left, in 2022.Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images

During the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), snipers took up residence in a number of

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in what became

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as the “Battle of the Hotels.”

Construction on the 40-story Beirut Trade Center, also known as Burj al-Murr or the “tower of bitterness,” began in 1974, just a year before war broke out. At that point, the $15 million building was 70% complete,

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reported in 2004.

In addition to office space, the Trade Center was designed to hold a movie theater and restaurant accessible by helicopter.

Architect Camillo Boano and urban planner Dalia Chabarek

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it as a scarred artifact of war that’s “difficult to topple” or renovate.

Several artists have incorporated the unfinished building into their work. In 2018, Jad El Khoury put up a temporary installation in the structure, adding colorful curtains to the windows to transform it into Burj El Hawa, the Tower of Air, according to

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.

Plaza Tower, New Orleans (531 feet)

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The Tower Plaza, right, in New Orleans.Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

One of New Orleans’ tallest buildings has become a danger in the decades since it was erected in the 1960s.

While the $15.5 million building had a few residential units, it was mainly designed for offices. In 2002, building tenants, including the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office, complained that toxic mold was making them sick. In the

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, the building was gutted due to both mold and asbestos,

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reported in 2014.

Since then, its problems have continued. A piece of paneling fell and hit a bicyclist in 2021. There was a fire in 2022, and a man died falling from one of the floors in 2023.

Despite

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the Plaza Tower, “the city made their case that the buildings become a public safety hazard,” Ursini said.

Now the city is preparing to demolish the building, though the current owner hopes to find a buyer instead,

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reported in January.

900 Chestnut, St. Louis, Missouri (588 feet)

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909 Chestnut Street with the AT&T sign visible.Isabella Pino/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In 2022, Rosin Preservation wrote a

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arguing that 909 Chestnut Street, also known as One AT&T Center, should be added to the National Register of Historic Places list.

Completed in 1985, the St. Louis building is one of the tallest in the state, has a “fortress-like base,” and a “façade [that] appears to stretch beyond what is expected, seemingly indefinitely,” according to the report.

AT&T didn’t renew its lease in 2017, and the building has been empty since, according to

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, which gathers information on commercial real estate. In 2024, the Goldman Group

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for $3.6 million, a fraction of its 2006 price of $205 million.

“At that price, I guess the building itself is a blank slate because you’re picking it up for almost nothing,” Ursini said.

The real estate firm hopes to put in 600 apartments, a pickleball court, and a movie theater,

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reported in January.

Sathorn Unique, Bangkok (607 feet)

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The Sathorn Unique building stands empty in Bangkok.Sakchai Lalit/AP

Popularly known as Thailand’s “Ghost Tower,” this looming structure dates back to 1990. The 47-floor building was only 80% finished when the 1997

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hit.

Its architect was also charged and then acquitted as part of a ******* plot that was never carried out,

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reported in 2023.

With the

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in ruins, daredevil travelers risk trespassing and injury to explore the tower. Exposed wires and rusty metals are just a few of the building’s hazards.

Centro Financiero Confinanzas, Caracas, Venezuela, (623 feet)

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Structural damage on the top five floors of “Tower of David” after a 2018 earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela.Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

For years, this empty 45-story building, known as the Torre de David or Tower of David, was also described as the

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.

Banker David Brillembourg hoped to create Venezuela’s version of Wall Street with the tower,

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reported, but the country’s financial crisis and Brillembourg’s death put an end to construction in 1994,

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reported.

Some 3,000 people took up residence in the concrete shell of a building, transforming it into a community with electricity, grocery stores, and water,

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reported in 2014. However, the structure was deemed unsafe and the occupants were evicted in 2014, per

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.

In 2018, a

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did some damage to the upper levels of the Tower of David,

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reported.

1 Seaport, New York City (670 feet)

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The unfinished 1 Seaport in 2020 (center).Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

At between $1.5 million and $20 million a pop, units in

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came with the promised luxuries of an infinity pool, dazzling views, and 10-foot ceilings. Buyers snapped them up, putting down hundreds of thousands of dollars as deposits.

In 2017, a carpenter working on the $273 million building fell to his death,

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recently reported. When it emerged the building was sinking and leaning to the left, its contractors and developers started blaming each other,

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reported in 2021.

One lawyer involved in one of 1 Seaport’s many lawsuits described the tilted structure as resembling a banana. While the building is unlikely to fall over, construction has been halted since 2020.

Oceanwide Plaza, Los Angeles (677 feet)

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Wildfire smoke rising behind the Oceanwide Plaza tower in Los Angeles.Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Consisting of three towers, the unfinished

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has become notorious for artists tagging its exterior. Last year, thrill-seekers even

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from the top.

The ambitious complex, expected to cost $1 billion, was meant to be home to luxury residential units and a five-star hotel,

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reported. It’s about 60% complete after construction halted in 2019. Oceanwide Holdings, the company behind the towers, filed for involuntary bankruptcy,

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reported last year.

Finishing the project would take around $800 million, per the

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.

Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea (1,082 feet)

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Ryugyong Hotel, also known as Hotel Doom, in Pyongyang, North Korea.Feng Li/Getty Images

Jutting high above its surrounding buildings, the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong earned the nickname “

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” when it sat empty and incomplete for over a decade in the middle of North Korea’s biggest city.

Work on the 105-story building began in 1987 under the rule of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather. In 1992, the economic depression following the Soviet Union’s collapse halted construction before windows were installed and the concrete was covered.

Construction has stopped and started several times since, and it’s unclear when the structure will open. In 2008, Reuters reported it would take an estimated $2 billion to complete the hotel.

“It was bare,” tour operator Simon Cockerell told

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of the concrete-filled interior after a visit in 2023.

On the outside, though, a new

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propaganda.

SkyCity, Mandaluyong, Philippines (1,099 feet)

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A large hole in between buildings, right, where SkyCity was meant to rise over 1,000 feet in the air.TanMan/Getty Images

This is one project that never got off the ground.

Originally, its developers hoped SkyCity would be the Philippines’ tallest building. They planned for the 77-story skyscraper to hold a hotel, swanky condos, and a bar,

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reported.

Nearby homeowners complained when developers broke ground in 1997 for several reasons, including that the structure, planned at over 1,000 feet tall, would cast a giant shadow.

A lengthy legal battle ensued, and funding for the estimated $85 million project dried up. The location is just a large, mossy hole now.

Goldin Finance 117, Tianjin, China (1,957 feet)

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The Goldin Finance 117 Tower in Tianjin, China, in 2024.Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Nothing in the vicinity comes close to the height of the rusting, unfinished

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tower in Tianjin, a city in Northern China. It was meant to hold a hotel, condos, and offices.

Construction began on the structure in 2008. A diamond-shaped atrium was supposed to sit atop the building, reminiscent of a glittering gem on top of a walking stick.

From the atrium’s observation deck and restaurant, guests would have had dizzying views of the city’s downtown. Then, in the mid-2010s, Goldin Group, the skyscraper’s developer, started having financial troubles.

At that point, it would have taken $10 billion to complete the project,

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reported in 2022.

“There’s no cladding on the exterior, and the building is just there awaiting a restart of construction,” Ursini said. It still remains empty today.

This story was originally published in August 2018 and most recently updated on February 16, 2025.

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#tallest #abandoned #skyscrapers #world

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