Dubai plans tower that will rise higher than Burj Khalifa

Emaar-developed structure will be designed by Santiago Calatrava

"The Tower" in Dubai, designed by Santiago Calatrava (Credit: Emaar Properties)
"The Tower" in Dubai, designed by Santiago Calatrava (Credit: Emaar Properties)

The real estate developers in Dubai apparently aren’t worried about plummeting oil prices and unrest in global capital markets. Emaar Properties, the developer behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, plans to build a $1 billion tower that will be “a notch taller” than the iconic structure, breaking its own world record.

Emaar chairperson Mohamed Alabbar said the new structure, dubbed “the Tower,” will be designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, but declined to say what the final height will be.

“The Tower” will have observation decks and anywhere from 18 to 20 floors that will house restaurants and boutique hotel rooms, according to Alabbar, Yahoo reported.

In New York City, the Calatrava-designed World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which cost $4 billion and was overrun with delays, has garnered mixed reviews, with some slamming the Oculus’ large jutting white steel rib walls.

Alabbar said he would like to present the slender tower as a “gift to the city before 2020.” It will evoke a minaret and will be anchored to the ground with sturdy cables, Yahoo reported.

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Alabbar called the new building an “elegant monument,” and said it would boost property values along the creek, noting that many buyers.

Burj Khalifa, which cost $1.5 billion to build and opened in January 2010, is 2,700 feet high.

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding is currently building a tower in Jeddah, which is expected to supersede Burj Khalifa in height by a more than half a mile, Yahoo reported.

Saudi Arabia is not the only competition for tallest tower. In Japan, a 5,577-foot skyscraper called the Sky Mile Tower is expected to be completed by 2045. Kohn Pedersen Fox and structural engineering firm Leslie E. Robertson Associate are planning to build the structure, which is part of a development dubbed “Next Tokyo.” [Yahoo]Dusica Sue Malesevic