It already has the world's tallest tower and now a second building rising out of the dust could allow Dubai to displace Taipei in Taiwan as the home of the world's second-tallest.
The Pentominium building is one of several super-tall structures emerging from a corner of Dubai Marina known to planners and architects as the "tallest block".
The new tower will rise 516 metres and become the second-highest in the world after the Burj Khalifa if it is completed to its design height.
Three others under construction - Princess Tower, 23 Marina and Elite Residence - would also be in the top 20 tallest if they are completed to their original designs.
The "tallest block" towers together will add some 4,000 units to the market in the next two years, including 1,560 in the next six months alone.
"Despite the consequences, developers have no choice but to finish," said Billy Rautenbach, the managing director of the estate agency The Property Store. "They took the investors' money and they can't pay them back."
Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum, the chief executive of Al Fajer Properties, this month called the situation between investors and developers a "zero sum game".
"It was a game of chicken between the developer and the investor," he said. "If the developer can't deliver then the investor gets his money back. If the developer delivers, the investor loses his money."
The Pentominium is rapidly taking shape with dozens of workers from the Arabian Construction Company on site. The building comprises 120 one-floor apartments, each marketed as a "penthouse". The developer is Trident International Holding.
Brokers said all the construction of these buildings was financed with investor payments that were required to be made over a period of time, although the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) mandated last year that payment plans adhere to construction milestones.
Still, to prevent the projects from being cancelled, developers must keep hitting the milestones, while investors must keep paying for construction or risk losing some or all of their investment.
bhope@thenational.ae
