Burj Dubai

Cool, good looking building. It is normal though for these big buildings to have tenancy down low before the upper levels are completed for occupation.

Yeikes! I don't know why I'm fine at that altitude in a plane but being up there on something that is attached to the ground is quite different

I like sea level much better!

A fitting monument to a Monarchy who’s concept of economic reality mirrors that of an ostrich hiding its head in the sand.
This building will go down in history as an example in bad planing and poor management …
*other opinions may vary______________________________
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Abu Dhabi would not let Dubai go bankrupt:

DUBAI: Dubai's request for a debt moratorium for its Dubai World conglomerate worried markets on Thursday, but the Gulf city state can count on Abu
Dhabi, its deep-pocketed rich brother, to avoid default, analysts said.

Dubai is one of seven city states that make up the United Arab Emirates, along with Abu Dhabi. On Wednesday, it announced that it intends to request a "standstill" for at least six months on the maturing debt of Dubai World, its largest and most-indebted state-run holding.

That sent jitters through major world on fears of a potential default by Dubai, which has a total debt of around 80 billion dollars, mostly owed by state companies.

Standard and Poor's estimated last month that Dubai state-related companies are due to repay some 50 billion dollars in debt over the next three years, which represent 70 per cent of the emirate's gross domestic product.

The ratings agency said on Wednesday that Dubai World's action amounts to a default and it downgraded companies in the group by several notches.

On the immediate horizon, Dubai World construction unit Nakheel was due to repay 3.5 billion dollars on December 14 in the form of maturing Islamic
But although the picture appears bleak, Dubai's oil-rich leading partner in the UAE, Abu Dhabi, is seen as likely to shore up the emirate.

"Abu Dhabi would not allow the financial collapse of Dubai," said Dubai-based analyst Ibrahim Khayat.

But he said the UAE heavyweight, which sits on more than 90 per cent of the federation's oil reserves and owns the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, might seek to bring Dubai under its control.

"Abu Dhabi could allow the weakening of Dubai within the framework of the competition between the two, but a collapse of Dubai would also affect Abu Dhabi," Khayat said.

"This announcement highlights the substantial headwinds facing the UAE economy," she said.

As Woody Allen once said “I don’t mind heights, it’s the ground that scares me!”

Dubai is referred to as an Architectural Disneyland, with a hodgepodge of one off buildings dreamed up by world architects that would not be allowed to construct anything like it in their own homeland.
These buildings are also constructed by a cheap Indian labour force that has no experience building anything over a one-storey wood-frame/mud building.
The office vacancy rate is 40% + and residential values are down 47% + over the last 6 months.
Most people I know see Dubai as a dope-induced dream. They also have the world’s largest yacht that will probably never leave port.

Here are some more ideas from our well-grounded Arab friends.
I’m hoping for a Hotel resembling a rusty beached oil tanker.
http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL13.htm

LOL
It's not the fall that will kill you, its the sudden stop at the end.....