One World Trade Center, originally named the Freedom Tower, has been under construction for many years and only recently opened for business. It has been granted the title of the tallest building in the United States and the Western Hemisphere by the Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat. However, the title is controversial because the building only reaches the record breaking height of 1776 feet with the use of a spire that is several hundred feet tall. It is also the fourth tallest building in the world. The fact that the record is controversial means that it is not a clear cut “skyscraper signal” for the “skyscraper curse“ to hit the US economy, but it is worth taking it into account.
Market watchers might also want to keep an eye on other construction sites in 2015. Although there are no new world record breaking skyscrapers set to open anytime soon, there will be a new regional record broken with the Shanghai Tower opening in China. Several other super skyscrapers are set to be completed and opened in China, United Arab Emirates, Russia, and the United States. The Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia is now under construction and is designed to set a new world record of one kilometer in height, but is probably a few years from completion.
