Top 10 Failed Skyscrapers

[@cstar2839]

I have been to the Ryugyong Hotel. At night it's all lit up with lights all along the edges of the building outlining its shape. The grounds around the building are manicured and clean. From the outside this building does look pretty impressive. However, there was no security or locked doors preventing anyone to simply walk into the structure. The inside is totally empty, there are no rooms, no elevators, no doors, I mean that place is nothing but crumbling concrete walls that have seen better days. It's amazing how prideful Kim Jong-un is that he wants the rest of the world to think they are a progressive country. This as of 2019.

[@BuildingTales]

Very cool, appreciate hearing about it first hand!

[@largol33t1]

There's also 161 Maiden Lane, known as the Leaning Tower of New York. Its outer walls were partly completed when the developers flunked an inspection. It was leaning several inches to one side. The culprit was simply the directors or developers being huge cheapskates. They were warned to use rods that touched the bedrock to stabilize the building but they refused. They opted for much cheaper load bearing rods driven into a poured concrete slab to stabilize it. The massive risk was that it could settle unevenly and that's exactly what happened. Everyone involved in the project fought in court and to this day, it has been left incomplete. Some of the windows on the lower levels have fallen off and it still sits in its current state with no completed walls. A tagger even managed to graffiti the right side of the building!

[@bobsmoot8454]

Great selection of failed projects, thanks it was entertaining for those of us familiar with high-rise construction

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@pozspeakerau]

Amazing

[@aj-gl3ri]

Great video, I guessed what #1 was 😊 would love to see the inside of it, finished or unfinished

[@BuildingTales]

Good guess!! Thanks for watching!

[@LuckyPierre789]

The I-4 Eyesore! AKA the Majesty Building near Orlando!

[@westhavenor9513]

I remember the Sathorn in Bangkok. We stayed in a wonderful hotel in 2009 that had an unfortunate view of it from our balcony. Thanks--I always wondered what the deal with it was.

[@pigeonracer10]

Interesting vdo

[@EDMistheway]

These are great!

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks, appreciate it!

[@mtacoustic1]

In Downtown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the 80's there was a 40-50 story unfinished concrete shell that appeared to be abandoned. Rumor was it was built from a local architectural design that neglected to include bathrooms of any kind; which made the building useless.

[@thomasciul8932]

I don't know? How long has the leaning tower of Piza been standing ?

[@BuildingTales]

Awhile

[@YeeSoest]

Dear Leader Kim, we finished the Hotel in the Capital, it's fully functional! - Great job. When can we start advertising to tourists? 😮 What's a Tourist?

[@levitatingoctahedron922]

I'd love to go there, but the US banned its own citizens from entering. Nations that have truly distinct cultures are rare these days, coming from an experienced traveler, and are among the most interesting to visit.

[@boxsterman77]

A tourist is a visitor from another country that we haven’t imprisoned yet.

[@boxsterman77]

⁠@@levitatingoctahedron922And you know who foolish tourists demand solve the problems that get into? The US Government.

[@LAXTXL]

The Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin China is missing. The highest failed skyscraper, 1,959 ft, 597 m.

[@vinesauceobscurities]

Left out Goldin Finance 117, the tallest example in the world.

[@BuildingTales]

Definitely a good one! I wasn't entirely sure what the current status of that one, but it would definitely be a good option for this list!

[@irvingr.fatback886]

Guy guh guh goldin fi fi fi finance!

[@thomastaylor6699]

"Over 15,000 pounds of explosives were used" - that's high explosives, not your typical stick of dynamite! Very impressive!

[@BuildingTales]

Definitely!

[@Kodakcompactdisc]

There’s a sky scraper in khon kaen Thailand abandoned

[@michaelwhite2823]

Loved this. Watched it twice so far. The waste is just painful to think about, but hopefully these project kept a lot of people employed. I can't wait to look up the status of the one in Ukraine. I can't imagine anyone wanting to live in downtown L.A.

[@BuildingTales]

Glad you enjoyed it! It is pretty wild how many of these there are around ... I'm sure I'm only scratching the surface of all the projects like this!

[@jkl9094]

I thought you will put the Golding Finance 117 from Tianjin, is the biggest abandoned skyscraper in the world, it should be here.

[@frankmahovilich4995]

No Tower of Babel?

[@mike04574]

Bit of a lesser known one but the ifc/saigon one tower in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is an infamous incomplete and unfinished building and is a bit of joke amongst Vietnamese ppl because of all the scandals and controversies the building has been through(I.e the former female owner being sentenced to death for corruption charges).It’s basically been 90% completed for the last 15 years and is now just used as a huge led billboard

[@BuildingTales]

Appreciate the update on that one! I was considering putting it on the list but wasn't sure of the status and if it had been finished or not

[@craigs1266]

I just saw that first building in September while on tour. The band I worked for played at the Novo which is in this video.

[@henryca03]

Two buildings in Louisiana should've gotten a mention. First is the Plaza Tower in New Orleans, currently the third tallest building in the city and has been unoccupied since 2002 due to asbestos and toxic mold. The city of New Orleans estimate that the cost to demolish Plaza Tower is approximately $27 million. The other is the former Capital One Tower in Lake Charles, formerly the tallest in that city, which was severely damaged in 2020 due to Hurricane Laura and subsequently left vacant until its implosion in September 2024.

[@BuildingTales]

Good suggestions! Those are definitely deserving of a spot on the list!

[@CharlesMacphee]

There is also a 600M tower in China that was never completed which should have made this list.

[@jkl9094]

Golding Finance Center 117

[@mechantl0up]

161 Maiden Lane, New York, ought to have been included as well.

[@jerviejervie2204]

Millennium Tower San Francisco

[@BuildingTales]

Definitely one with some major problems! Since it got finished I put it on the "almost failures" video that I made last week, but it could definitely fit for this one too

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

@@BuildingTales Oh it's still leaning friend. Pretending things are ok - is not a fix. Plenty of things are completed - but also fail. God help us if there's a sizeable quake...

[@darrint3573]

How could you have overlooked The Leaning Tower of Lower Manhattan which has been left abandoned since 2020? That should have been #1 as NYC is still home to the most expensive real estate in the world.

[@grahamo22]

Meena Plaza was built in a port area where nobody wanted to live. The building wasnt a problem - but the arrogance of the developer was. The Nakheel Tower was stalled for a decade, The Pearl was/is still sitting there after 17 years and no way forward. Dubai is full of them affected by the 2008 crash. Then theres the Dubai Tower in Doha which st as a rotting stump for a decade - cant speak to the lst 5 years as I havent been there since.

[@Maybe1Someday]

Wasteful humans like to build tall thingy. I call it little PP big finance problem

[@timkis64]

we've all seen the videos from china of high rise apartment buildings where people are digging holes in the concrete with their fingers.a good earthquake & their history.

[@Lasvegasnowman1]

What happens to these buildings, I know we had issues with fountainblue here in Vegas but now it's finished and open. Maybe they should put homeless people in them.

[@kristianavramov6016]

Сградата в Pyongyang, North Korea е завършена.

[@markomib]

You need to research how to say these names correctly, most people may not notice but if you know the correct names - it is pretty atrocious what you've come up with on your own.

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks really appreciate the kind words!

[@goodluck5642]

Hell yeah

[@Nookdashiddole]

There were a couple of buildings in Manhattan that fell

[@leroyprc]

until

[@BuildingTales]

?

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

It was Pavillia, not Pavilla, Farm. Pah-vil'-lee-yah. Read much? And Ryugyong, not RooGong, Hotel. Doesn't it maybe occur to you that you're in the wrong line of business?

[@BuildingTales]

Glad you enjoyed the video so much Davey!!

[@boxsterman77]

You state that the developers cannot wait for concrete to achieve its necessary strength. That sounds like the developer’s party line. Why would you just accept that? If they cannot wait for the building to be safe, they have no business building it.

[@teddine7366]

I don't think get myself to buy an apartment that was not even built yet. It always seems to fail at higher end places to it seems like. But then again I make less than 50000$ a year so I am careful with my money.

[@notcentervillewalter]

annoying voice

[@BuildingTales]

Appreciate the support Walt!

[@mkervelegan]

King Nerd is wearing his crown

[@boxsterman77]

One wonders, just how many people were executed because of that hotel in South Korea. And you know the question isn’t whether someone was executed, but how many. Because that is what amounts to accountability in a tyrannical police state, the kind that Trump soul wants to emulate.

[@BuildingTales]

North Korea*

[@JohnWSmartNow]

North Korea

[@eyeguy51]

Obviously, you are a mouth breather. Probably a knuckle dragger, too.

[@robreuler144]

Yawn boring.

[@BuildingTales]

Thanks for watching Bobby! Glad you enjoyed the video!