Someone Put an $84 Million Abandoned Skyscraper in China For Sale on Taobao

January 9, 2018

The Taobao auction for an abandoned skyscraper project in Taiyuan, the capital of northern China’s Shanxi Province, was unsuccessful in attracting buyers with a starting price of 550 million yuan ($84 million).

Instead of caving in, the organizer of the event, Shanxi Provincial Higher People’s Court, officially announced a second auction, which is expected to take place either by the end of January or early February, according to Xinhua.

The public auction for the 39-floor, 156-meter-tall (512-foot-tall) unfinished building, which has a combined floor space of more than 76,000 square meters (818,057 square feet), kicked off on Jan. 2 and 3. Its construction began in 2006 when Shanxi Jinhao International Hotel Limited Company invested and turned the building into a hotel, and was finished in 2010 before opening to the public in 2011.

However, funding for the project fell short on the part of the developer, which led to the decision to fully suspend the project.

Shanghaiist reported that Chinese courts are now turning to Alibaba’s e-commerce platform to auction off confiscated goods, and properties left by individuals or companies. Even airplanes made it on Taobao, including two Boeing 747s that were auctioned off in November with a total asking price of 322 million ($48 million).

Featured Image Shanghaiist via Medium

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