Dubai opened the World’s Tallest Skyscraper today

Helping make real estate dreams come true

posted by Jon Lansner

Developer Emaar, the real estate giant from Dubai, officially opened the largest building in the world today!
Associated Press reports …

Dubai opened the world’s tallest skyscraper today, and in a surprise move renamed the gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa in a nod to the leader of neighboring Abu Dhabi — the oil-rich sheikdom which came to its rescue during the financial meltdown. A lavish presentation witnessed by Dubai’s ruler and thousands of onlookers at the base of the tower said the building was 828 meters, or 2717 feet, tall. Dubai is opening the tower in the midst of a deep financial crisis. Its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi has pumped billions of dollars in bailout funds into the emirate as it struggles to pay its debts.

Let’s hope Emaar does better at high rises in its own neighborhood than it did on investing in U.S. real estate. Emaar lost $1.6 billion buying Orange County homebuilder John Laing in 2006 — at the peak of the American housing boom. Laing is being liquidated in bankruptcy court.
Says the Financial Times of Emaar …

The developer has been hurt by the property market collapse locally and internationally, but the region’s largest builder is less bruised than its peers. Although it too invested abroad in a problematic acquisition of John Laing Homes, the US homebuilder, Emaar has developed a reputation for quality delivery and has a manageable debt profile. Most analysts believe the residents moving into the Burj Dubai apartments from February are not speculators who will struggle to make their final 30 per cent payments. Prices in the tower, which hit a peak when Armani-styled residences were sold in 2007, have not been subject to the same pressures as elsewhere in Dubai.

And one O.C. architect wondered if the excitement was midirected …

“Owning the tallest building is such a ‘temporary’ accolade, why would anyone want to be known for that and that alone? We need to change our mindsets from biggest or tallest to most resource efficient. We must start focusing on the only thing that matters moving forward: sustainability.” – Dan Heinfeld, president of Irvine-based LPA Inc.

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