Does anyone know anything about this? How much of the building is standing empty? How much are they charging for rent? Is the company profitable yet?
All I know is that the head honcho is in jail and there aren’t many lights on at night.
Tee hee! But it’s NOT a white elephant! Really its not! Why! It puts Taipei RIGHT there on the international MAP!
80% full according to China Post:
[quote]TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taipei Financial Center Corp., owner of the world’s tallest building, expects occupancy growth to slow this year as companies delay taking up office space because of the global recession.
The occupancy rate at Taipei 101 may increase by “single digit” percentage points in 2009, after rising almost 10 percentage points over the past 12 months, Michael Liu, spokesman for Taipei Financial Center, said in an interview. About 80 percent of the skyscraper’s office tower is filled, he said.
“We’re a bit downbeat about this year,” Liu said in his Taipei office yesterday. “Some tenants may delay moving in.”
Mounting losses among global financial companies may damp demand for office space in Taiwan’s capital. The city government requires that at least 60 percent of the tenants of Taipei 101’s office tower are financial services companies, according to Liu. A 90 percent occupancy rate is needed for Taipei Financial Center to break even, a target it aims to reach by 2012, he said.
Bank of America Corp. and Google Inc. are among companies that moved in last year, according to Liu. Taipei Financial Center is in talks with a Vietnam-based casino company and an investment bank for leases, he said.
The 508-meter (1,667-foot) Taipei 101 has been the world’s tallest building since construction was completed in 2004 and more than 10,000 people work in its offices. Taipei Financial Center started a 70-year contract with the city government in 1997 to construct the skyscraper under a build-operate-transfer mode, Liu said. The building also has a shopping mall.
Michel Tilmant, chief executive officer of ING Group N.V., Taipei 101’s biggest tenant, said in November that 2009 will probably be a “difficult” year as the economic outlook deteriorates. Amsterdam-based ING is the largest Dutch financial company.
Bank of America, the biggest U.S. lender by assets, this month reported its first loss since 1991 and cut the dividend to a penny after receiving emergency government funds to support the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., also a Taipei 101 tenant.[/quote]
The men’s bathroom stalls on my floor were only 15% full just now, if that helps in any way.
It’s a really really fancy roof for a foodcourt.
It’s a really really fancy roof for a foodcourt.[/quote]
Na, just thick insulated because of the heat here…