Dubai Developer Emaar Plans New ‘World’s Tallest’ Tower

Dubai’s flagship developer Emaar Properties on Sunday unveiled plans to construct the world’s tallest tower in the Middle Eastern emirate, set to rise slightly above the Burj Khalifa that currently holds the title.

The announcement by Emaar underlines Dubai’s ambition to establish itself as a global investment and tourism hub by often pursuing futuristic megaprojects such as artificial islands off its coast or an indoor ski slope.

Emaar aims to deliver the tower, which won’t be for residential use but contain an observation deck and possibly a small hotel, before Dubai hosts the World Expo fair in 2020. It will be situated in a yet-to-be built 6-square-kilometer residential and retail district next to Dubai’s creek and adjacent to a wildlife sanctuary.

“It [the height] will probably be announced when we open the tower but it will be a notch taller than the Burj Khalifa,” said Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar, at a preview event. The Burj Khalifa, also built by Emaar, currently tops out at 828 meters.

The building named as “The Tower” has been designed by Santiago Calatrava Valls, a Spanish-Swiss architect who also worked on the railway station at the rebuilt World Trade Center site in New York. The tower’s design is inspired by a lily and a minaret, the spire-like structure next to a mosque usually used for the Muslim call for prayer, according to Emaar.

With the new project, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia appear to be in a race toward building the world’s tallest tower. Jeddah Economic Co. expects to open the world’s future tallest skyscraper, which will comprise condominiums, office space and hotel rooms, by 2019.

Emaar’s plans for the new tower also come at a time when over the past year Dubai’s property market has lost some of its luster, after strongly rebounding from a devastating real estate crash that hit the region with the global financial crisis in 2009.

“Cycles happen in all economies, in all cities world-wide,” said Mr. Alabbar.

The Burj Khalifa, following completion in 2010, spurred development in downtown Dubai, a neighborhood that is now prime real estate. The Burj itself has become a tourist attraction and the city’s most marketable landmark.

Source: Wall Street Journal wsj.com