We all know how the economic downturn in the recent past adversely affected the life of every common man. With numerous companies putting down their shutters for ever to uncountable people shunt out from their offices, small businesses collapsing against the decreasing funds and countries struggling to maintain an economic equilibrium, recession struck a deep whole in the lives of many. Well, the real estate market being the hardest hit, it was inevitable that some of the largest and most extravagant construction projects around the globe would come to a standstill. This is exactly how the listed halted buildings that stand like massive man made skeletons, witnessed the darkest side of the economic slump, for never to rise from the slumber.
Chicago Spire
The 2000 foot tall Chicago Spire, the very innovative architecture wonder had only begun to breathe to life before it was strangled to death. Only left with an abandoned 76 foot-deep whole in the ground where the ultra high twisting tower was supposed to sprout, the 150 storey Chicago Spire now remains as an unachieved dream.
Russia Tower, Moscow
Insufficient funds and unfeasibility of the project forced the developers of Russia Tower to bring the construction work to a ceaseless stop in 2009. Only if the building was carved out to reality, Russia Tower was to be a 118 floors structure completed by 2012, with 101 elevators and ample space to accommodate 30,000 people at a time.
Nakheel Tower, Dubai
The 1 kilometer tall Nakheel Tower was a proposed skyscraper in Dubai that again met the dust, credits crisis that stifled construction worldwide. Aimed to shoot upto a height of 5600 feet, this structure was to supposedly consist of three towers connected by sky bridges. After almost half the work completed, the tower was cancelled in 2009.
Gran Torre Costanera, Santiago, Chile
The global financial crisis of 2008-09 brought down the high aspiration of 980 ft Torre Gran Costanera that aimed to rise upto 70 floors. The skyscraper never reached its intended goal when the project was stalled after the completion of 22 floors. The building is a home to two luxury hotels and a six level shopping mall.
56 Leonard Street, Manhattan
Described by the architects as “houses stacked in the sky,” 56 Leonard Street is a 796ft (243m) tall skyscraper in the New York city, that like its counterparts, succumbed to the financial turmoil in 2009. Designed by the Swiss firm Herzog de Meuron, the oddly outlined tower that cuts into jagged edges, will have 58 floors and house 145 residential units if at all the project is resumed.
250 West 55th Street, Manhattan
Started as a high rise building for commercial use, 250 West 55th Street glass office tower never reached its completion and still stays as halted dream of its developers, Boston Properties. All that is seen as of today as a souvenir is a fenced-off hole in a ground.
The Leadenhall Cheesegrater Building, London
A 50-storey tower nicknamed the ‘cheese-grater’ by City of London Planning Officer Peter Rees, is a wedge shaped tower with a distinctive tapering form which is said to protect views of St Paul’s Cathedral from Fleet Street.
Columbus Center, Boston
After being stalled for several years, the Columbus Center project in Boston is officially dead. The $800 million project was supposed to be a complex of condos, hotels and stores spanning the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Burj al Alam, Dubai
A crystal flower shaped 108 storey, 510 hyperbloid skyscraper, the Burj al Alam, aims to become one of the tallest buildings of the world. Started in 2006, the building will contain 74 floors of office space, a retail area at the base, a luxury 5-star hotell and serviced apartments in the top 27 floors, a helipad, a Turkish bath and lots more.