Do you know the story behind the 600 meter abandoned Skyscraper?
Who builds a Skyscraper that big only to abandon it, you might ask? But stranger things have happened and will continue to happen.
The skyscraper in question is in China and it is none other than the Goldin Finance 117 tower in Tianjin.
In this video, we will give you a detailed review of this building and why it was abandoned. So sit back and watch the video until the very end so you can get all the details.
Ghostscraper
The Chinese have a soft spot for tall buildings.
To this Asian tiger, skyscrapers are a sign and show of opulence and prestige.
The taller a building is, the better. So much so that on the list of the world’s tallest buildings,
China has 44 on the list with the tallest being the 128ft Shanghai Towers in Shanghai which is currently the second tallest in the world,
although that record is set to be broken once the Merdeka 118 is completed.
Having 44 buildings on the list of the world’s tallest buildings is a thing of pride,
however, China also has an unenviable record; that of the world’s tallest abandoned building.
This building is called the Goldin Finance 117 building located in Tianjin.
Located just a few hours away from Beijing, this building has been abandoned
and has now become an abode of rodents in what has become a national embarrassment, not only for the investors involved but the country.
When the project was started 12 years ago, the plan was for it to eclipse Shanghai Tower in height but that was not to be. R
ather, the only time you see it online is in videos of climbers climbing it from ground to top
to show their prowess.
Construction work continued until 2015
when work was stopped abruptly after it had reached 597 meters.
Afterwards, it was deserted and the workers never returned.
At the time, no word was given as to why the project stopped and when it would recommence, leading many to call it a Ghostscrapper instead.
The Background
Goldin 117 was proposed back in 2008 at a time when China was competing aggressively with the rest of the world for economic significance.
The building was the brainchild of Pat Sutong’s Goldin Metropolitan Scheme of 1.8 km high-end business and residential properties.
Located about 8km from Tianjin downtown, it was designed to have commercial towers and residential apartments.
The manors had Italian and French designs and a wine museum, a polo club and a garden among things.
The owner had a vision to cater to the real estate needs of the super rich, and the design made this vision clearer.
The building has a three story atrium spotting a diamond shape, an observation deck, a skybar, restaurant and swimming pool.
Now,any structure boasting such luxurious rooms and fittings will be seen through till the very end of completion right?
Well, that was not the case with the Goldin 117. As it stands, the building has been abandoned and there are no plans to complete the building ever. But what happened?
The reason for the abandonment
At the time when Goldin 117 was being planned for, the Chinese economy was doing quite well.
Goldin properties had been listed on the Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong based property company was a new player in the Chinese real estate market. A
lso, the project was solely self financed and the construction cost totaling a $10 billion investment was going to take the company years to recoup.
Furthermore, Goldin properties was not going to start recouping its investments until tenants started moving into the building and this was going to take a few more years.
This whole situation placed Goldin properties in a precarious situation but planners were hopeful that it would be a worthwhile investment due to the burgeoning economy.
Then the unthinkable happened. The economy experienced a burst and everything came crashing down.
To be fair, the burst did not topple the Chinese economy but it affected investor confidence.
However, the Chinese economy was not the only one Goldin properties had to worry about; they also faced economic uncertainties elsewhere in countries like the US and Europe where they had substantial holdings.
All this placed immense financial pressure on Goldin properties
therefore, in January 2010, the company halted the construction.
When the property market eventually rebounded in 2011, Goldin Properties decided to continue with the project with the expectation that the market would reach its previous peak.
As work continued, the economy didn’t rebound as strongly as expected and external pressures from other international markets placed even more pressure on the Chinese market.
More Pressure
After starving off the toughest periods of the economic trough, many businesses began to settle
Only for another global financial crisis to hit the economy
in a move that wiped off one third of the asset value of the Shanghai Stock Exchange within a month in 2015.
This created a market volatility that continued into early 2016 in what became a full blown crisis.
Goldin properties' very own share price took a hit on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as well.
Subsequently, Pat Sutong, the company chairman with a 64% stake in Goldin properties
saw $13 billion of his fortune wiped off in a matter of weeks.
This brought the entire Goldin 117 project to a halt with the company lacking the funds to continue it.
By 2018, there was hope that it would restart once again only for the chief contractor, China State Construction Engineering Corporation
to abandon the property entirely taking away their equipment and signage.
Why Goldin 117 failed
On the surface, the average observer will conclude that the collapse of the Chinese economy was responsible for the failure of Goldin 117.
However, if you look deeper, there were other contributing factors which led to the failure of the project.
First of all, China has a state controlled economy and investors prefer investments with state backing.
So in a situation when the economy is shaky,
businesses without government patronage struggle to attract fresh cash from elsewhere because of market uncertainty.
This was clear with Goldin Properties because even when they put up some of their assets for sale they did not get significant interests from investors.
Secondly, Goldin 117 had all the markings of a super rich project.
With the luxury chalets and exotic hotels that the Skyscraper will occupy,
only the super rich in China could afford to patronize the businesses that would have occupied the property.
However, in an economic meltdown that affected the super rich more than any other economic group,
Goldin 117 was a luxury some in China’s high society were not so keen to enjoy amidst the economic upheaval.
Thirdly, the Skyscraper was located in Tianjin which is a second tier city many of China’s wealthiest people didn’t fancy.
Perhaps, their approach was to secure the space early in advance of Tianjin’s impending economic boom.
The project was ambitious and not without reason when you consider how many other emerging cities were attracting massive investment just like Tianjin was at the time.
Unfortunately, the economic crisis slowed the economic growth and the city did not grow as expected.
In fact, many of China’s emerging cities collapsed and so did many massive infrastructural projects all over the Middle Kingdom.
New Government Legislation
Now, any hope of Goldin 117 reaching full completion appears to be dead on arrival
because in April 2020, the Chinese government issued a new regulation
asking local governments to reduce the issuing of permits to developers of sky high buildings. Their reasons were clear.
Government officials pointed to the rate of environmental pollution and other environmental concerns caused by the buildings.
They also cited the negative effect of Skyscrapers in urban areas.
Furthermore, they banned the development of buildings rising above 500 meters while enforcing strict controls over buildings more than 250 meters high.
As if these regulations did not go far enough, the central government in Beijing also recommended
that local governments reconsider plans to approve structures above 100 meters high. So in a nutshell,
what the administration of Xi Jumping was saying in effect was, the shorter your buildings, the better. With these regulations in place,
local officials in Heilongjiang province released a statement that buildings, museums, and theatres above 100 meters were going to be strictly regulated moving forward.
The same trend can be seen across the country and there are no indications that this will change anytime soon.
So a building that was supposed to be seen as a symbol of wealth ended up being a stark reminder of China’s wasteful spending.
Also, all the money invested into Goldin 117 has gone to waste with no hope of recouping even one tenth of the investment.
Today, there are many buildings like Goldin 117 all over the country abandoned by their owners because they couldn’t fund their completion
or were hamstrung by government regulation, or both