Dubai opens world's tallest tower

At 2,717 feet, Burj Khalifa, renamed last minute after Abu Dhabi leader who bailed emirate out of financial crisis, is tallest building in the world

Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper Monday in a blaze of fireworks, then added a final flourish: It renamed the half-mile-high tower after the head of neighboring Abu Dhabi, whose billions bailed out Dubai amid last year's financial crisis.

 

Long known as Burj Dubai - Arabic for "Dubai Tower" - the building rises 2,717 feet (828 meters) from the desert. The $1.5 billion "vertical city" of luxury apartments and offices and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani also plans to have the world's highest mosque (158th floor) and swimming pool (76th floor).

 

Its backers wanted the skyscraper to be a monument to the boundless, can-do spirit of Dubai - one of a federation of seven small sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates - but the timing could not be worse. Property prices in parts of Dubai collapsed by nearly half in the past year, the result of easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst.

 

Riding to the rescue was Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, which pumped tens of billions of dollars into Dubai last year as it struggled to pay enormous debts.

 

As officials opened the tapering metal-and-glass spire with fireworks and multicolored lights, they unexpectedly announced it would be renamed Burj Khalifa, to honor the Abu Dhabi leader who is also president of the UAE.

 

Thousands of cheering, clapping spectators watched as a tally projected on huge screens at the opening ceremony revealed the tower's most closely guarded secret - its height of 2,717 feet (828 meters). That made it more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) higher than the skyscraper known as Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which at 1,667 feet (508 meters) had been the world's tallest since 2004.

  

The exact number of floors for the Burj Khalifa is not known, and could reflect how the developer chose to calculate the total.

 

Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of the tower's developer Emaar Properties, initially said Monday it had "more than 200" stories, but he later backtracked to more than 165 inhabitable floors, given its tapered top. Promotional materials sent before the tower's opening said it contained 160 stories.

Burj Khalifa, standing at 2,717 feet (Photo: AP) 

 

Developers say they are confident in the safety of the tower, which is nearly twice the height of New York's Empire State Building.

 

The tower was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record in engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including the Willis Tower.

 

The building ranks as the world's tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota.

Early designs for the Burj had it edging out Taipei 101 by about 33 feet (10 meters), said Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer.

 

"We weren't sure how high we could go," said Baker, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. "It was kind of an exploration ... a learning experience."

 

Work began in 2004 and moved rapidly. At times, new floors were being added almost every three days. During the busiest construction periods, some 12,000 people worked at the tower each day, according to Emaar. Low-wage migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent provided much of the muscle.

 

The Burj is the centerpiece of a 500-acre (200-hectare) development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but new skyscrapers and the Middle East's largest shopping mall.

 

That layout - as the core of a lower-rise skyline - lets the Burj stand out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle.

 

An observation deck on the 124th floor opens to the public Tuesday, with adult tickets starting at 100 dirhams, or just over $27 apiece. The ride to the top took just over a minute during a visit for journalists Monday.

 

Dubai landmarks like the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel and the manmade Palm Jumeirah island were visible through the haze. The Burj itself cast a sundial-like shadow over low-rise houses and empty sand-covered lots stretching toward the azure Persian Gulf.