Shanghai to unveil World's third-tallest skyscraper

Beijing, Aug 29: 14 years of hard work to culminate on Saturday, Aug 30 as Shanghai will unveil the world's third-tallest skyscraper to the public.

Total investment in the 101-story, 492-meter-high landmark project, located in Pudong's Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, amounts to over eight billion Yuan ($1.16 billion). According to Xinhua, its owner, Minoru Mori, Japan's biggest private real estate developer, has said that the building has been completed on time and will be called the Shanghai World Financial Center. "I believe the building was completed at the best time, when China has opened its doors to the world for 30 years and the city is going to hold the World Expo soon in 2010," Mori told reporters on Thursday through a translator. At three American dollars per square meter rent per day, space in the building is pricey. But Mori said he is confident that the market will hold up, despite signs of trouble for some property developers.

"If you supply a good space, then the demand will follow," he added. Mori expects his company to recoup its investment in about 12 years,

Only the Dubai Tower and the Taipei 101 in Taiwan surpass this skyscraper in height. Tenants so far include top Japanese financial companies, such as Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Mizuho Corporate Banking Corp as well as BNP Paribas of France and Germany's Commerzbank AG.

The building's current occupancy rate is about 45 percent, and the figure is expected to reach 90 percent in a year, Mori said.

The mega-development, the Japanese company's second project in Shanghai after the HSBC Tower, sits adjacent to the 88-story Jin Mao Building. It comprises a gross floor area of 381,600 square meters, including 226,900 square meters of grade-A office space and a Park Hyatt hotel, the highest hotel in the world, which will open in September.

The two high-rises and the 632-meter Shanghai Center that's scheduled for completion as early as 2013 will allow Shanghai to complete its plan for a triangle of super-skyscrapers on the east side of the Huangpu River.

ANI