^{Comments worth a scan re CN construction scams, etc.}

https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/pd66rr/multiple_skyscrapers_demolished_at_the_same_time/

Wow. Mesermizing.

When we went to China in... 2002??... we had a hotel room right across from a construction project that looked like this - about a dozen high-rise buildings going up at once, with one of them half inhabited and the furthest behind being a skeleton structure. I think they were all 16 stories. I sort of wondered about the wisdom of building them all at once instead of getting one up and rented/sold, but didn't think much further than that. It never occurred to me that the project would stall and a decade later, they would all be destroyed.

Such a waste of resources. That's a lot of concrete and steel.

Looks like one building in the middle -- now leaning dangerously -- was a dud.

>now leaning dangerously

Yeah, *somebody* is going to get some serious overtime or haz duty pay for going in that one.  ....And the somebody who screwed up is going to a 'retraining' camp.

Real estate is a ponzi scheme in China.

When we were in downtown Hanoi at that restaurant in the hi-rise, I noticed one or two unfinished office towers nearby.  From the weeds and vines on them, they looked to have been abandoned for a while.

>> ponzi

Like this?

QuoteRooms and beds for retirees are in short supply as the population ages, leaving many vulnerable to companies pitching risky investments.

The saleswoman waited for Yang Jinzhong at the bus stop. She took Ms. Yang for a tour in her car. With every call and meeting, the saleswoman made the same pitch: By investing just a little bit of money, Ms. Yang could secure a spot in a retirement home at a great price and make some extra cash to boot.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/business/china-retirement-homes.html

Still, it seems like if you were conducting an actual Ponzi scheme on purpose, you wouldn't go to the trouble of building a dozen high-rises to 40-70% completion. That's the part that just seems bizarre. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the logic of building all those buildings in parallel. Maybe I just don't think big enough. If Elon Musk were a Chinese developer, he probably would have proposed an entire city.

Still, the colossal waste just boggles my mind.

related?

Chinese real estate developers have more than $5 trillion of debt. China resembles Japan of early 1990s.

China's 'Volcker Moment' is a mounting risk to global recovery
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/01/chinas-volcker-moment-mounting-risk-global-recovery/

"Construction of the Kunming complex, named Sunshine City II, began in 2011. The developer soon ran out of money and was acquired by a new company. Work on the residential project stopped in 2013. "

China Blows Up 15 High-Rises Because Constructors Ran Out of Money to Finish Them
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn3bp/china-demolition-building-kunming

This thread and this article make me wonder what happens when you have to take down a 100-story skyscraper in Manhattan. It will happen eventually, hopefully next time without crashing jet aircraft into them.

Why the Empire State Building, and New York, May Never Be the Same
It once symbolized an urban way of working, and the city's resilience. In the pandemic's second year, the future of the world's most famous skyscraper is in doubt.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/15/nyregion/empire-state-building-reopening-new-york.html

QuoteIn all, a vast majority of tenants who shared their plans are remaining in the building, and only a small share have decided to give up their office space. But whether a company had the option to leave was generally determined by its lease agreement.

In Manhattan, 19 percent of office space is available for rent, according to Newmark, a real estate services company. That is roughly double the average rate of the last decade.

>Manhattan

Japan's Quiet Skyscraper-Demolition Technique  | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/2013/01/japan-building-demolition/

Of course the Japanese would have figured out how to demolish things without noise or mess. Who else other than the Swiss?