Saudis Building World's Tallest Tower

At more than 3,280 feet high, it will top Burj Khalifa
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2011 7:28 AM CDT
Saudis Building World's Tallest Tower
Kingdom Tower, World's Tallest Building, to Begin Construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.   (PRNewsFoto/Kingdom Holding Company)

It's only been a year and a half since Dubai opened the world's tallest building, and already Saudi Arabia is coming along to steal away the title. The country's Kingdom Holding Co., run by a billionaire prince, announced today that its associate firm has made a $1.23 billion deal with the Bin Laden Group—the Saudi construction giant founded by Osama bin Laden's father—to build a tower more than 3,280 feet high. That trounces the 2,717-foot-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

The tower, planned for Jeddah's Kingdom City, will take up a whopping 5.4 million square feet and will include a hotel, apartments, condos, and offices, the Wall Street Journal reports. (More tall buildings stories.)

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