Jeddah Tower (Arabic: برج جدة),[11] previously known as Kingdom Tower (برج المملكة) and Mile-High Tower (برج الميل), is an incompleted skyscraper (in Feb 2018 reached 66 floors at a height of 266 meters, and since then the height didn't change as in July 2018) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Originally planned to be the world's first 1 kilometer 1,000 m (3,281 ft) high building, the 2017 Saudi Arabian purge caused Kingdom Holding Company founder Al-Waleed bin Talal to be detained/jailed and stripped of certain financial assets. In March 2018, the Saudi government asked some Kingdom Holdings managers to focus on other projects.[12][13]
The tower is intended to be the centerpiece and first phase of an SR75 billion (US$20 billion)[14] development known as Jeddah Economic City, that will be located along the Red Sea on the north side of Jeddah. The development of Jeddah Tower seeks to encourage development and tourism.[15]
Initially planned to be 1.6 km (1 mile) high, the geology of the area proved unsuitable for a tower of that height. The design, created by American architect Adrian Smith, who also designed Burj Khalifa, incorporates many unique structural and aesthetic features. The creator and leader of the project is Saudi Arabian prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the wealthiest man in the Middle East,[16] a grandson of Ibn Saud, and nephew of the Kings of Saudi Arabia before him. Al-Waleed is the chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC),[17] which is a partner in the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), which was formed in 2009 for the development of Jeddah Tower and City.[17]
Reception of the proposal was highly polarized; it has received high praise from some as a culturally significant icon that will symbolize the nation's wealth and power, while others question its socioeconomic motives, and forecast that it will have negative financial consequences.
