Top 85 floors of Kingdom Tower will go unoccupied
By Neha Bhatia Monday, 8 June 2015 10:56 AM



The top 85 floors of Jeddah's under-construction marvel, Kingdom Tower, will go unoccupied as they are too narrow for apartments or offices, international reports suggest.

UK daily The Guardian reported: "While the Kingdom Tower promises to house 121 serviced apartments, 360 residential apartments, a 200-room Four Seasons hotel and much office space to boot, its top 85 floors will go unoccupied as they are too narrow for apartments or offices.

"Some (of those floors) will house plant machinery and communications equipment," the report continues.

Upon completion, Kingdom Tower will be at least 1km tall, thus stealing the crown of the world’s tallest building from Dubai’s 828m-tall Burj Khalifa.

The Guardian's report adds Kingdom Tower's developers will not be too perturbed by how long the tower takes to "fill up".

"In truth, the developers are probably not that bothered if their tower takes time to fill up – this is often the case when exceptionally tall, speculative towers are marketed.

"The Empire State Building took two decades to fill with tenants," the report adds.

I always chuckle at pics of Kingdom Tower because of similar it is the Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High Skyscraper. Empty space is the fate of a lot of these tall building in the US. I have no idea how NYC will fill the new Freedom Towers. Even with the absence of the original WTC, Manhattan had somewhere north of 100 million sqft of unused commercial space.

(06-23-2015 01:51 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  I always chuckle at pics of Kingdom Tower because of similar it is the Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High Skyscraper. Empty space is the fate of a lot of these tall building in the US. I have no idea how NYC will fill the new Freedom Towers. Even with the absence of the original WTC, Manhattan had somewhere north of 100 million sqft of unused commercial space.

for reference:


1. FLW Mile High Tower 2. Burj Dubai 3. Kingdom Tower

And have you seen what they just did to Tower 2 at the WTC? The best building design of the bunch has been significantly altered:

before:


after:


for reference: Revealed: The Inside Story of the Last WTC Tower’s Design

Quote:after:


for reference: Revealed: The Inside Story of the Last WTC Tower’s Design

reminds me of this:

(06-23-2015 02:02 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 01:51 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  I always chuckle at pics of Kingdom Tower because of similar it is the Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High Skyscraper. Empty space is the fate of a lot of these tall building in the US. I have no idea how NYC will fill the new Freedom Towers. Even with the absence of the original WTC, Manhattan had somewhere north of 100 million sqft of unused commercial space.

for reference:


1. FLW Mile High Tower 2. Burj Dubai 3. Kingdom Tower

And have you seen what they just did to Tower 2 at the WTC? The best building design of the bunch has been significantly altered:

before:


after:


for reference: Revealed: The Inside Story of the Last WTC Tower’s Design

I did see the redesign, and the article you linked to IMO doesn't give a really good explanation as to why the decision was made. Honestly they only needed the one though.

(06-23-2015 01:51 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  I always chuckle at pics of Kingdom Tower because of similar it is the Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High Skyscraper. Empty space is the fate of a lot of these tall building in the US. I have no idea how NYC will fill the new Freedom Towers. Even with the absence of the original WTC, Manhattan had somewhere north of 100 million sqft of unused commercial space.

The office space vacancy rate is about 10% in Manhattan, which is not bad. 1WTC was 55% not sure how they are doing now?

Edit, top 20 floors at 1WTC are not leased/occupied. I would not lease space their either.

final skyline view of NYC circa 2020:


old NYC skyline view before 2001:

I guess they could make use of the WTC Tower 2 redesign:

(06-23-2015 03:37 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  I guess they could make use of the WTC Tower 2 redesign:

lol, dont give them any ideas.

(06-23-2015 01:51 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  I always chuckle at pics of Kingdom Tower because of similar it is the Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High Skyscraper. Empty space is the fate of a lot of these tall building in the US. I have no idea how NYC will fill the new Freedom Towers. Even with the absence of the original WTC, Manhattan had somewhere north of 100 million sqft of unused commercial space.

While there have been some other large scale projects, other than the Freedom towers, the vacancy rate is a good indicator of the economy's health. Certainly of NYC's economy.