Real estate was once considered a pillar industry, attracting investors to enter the market, hoping to get a share of the profits. These investments have led to high housing prices and left many unfinished buildings.

Large cities, due to their dense population and high level of consumption, have become the most concentrated areas for capital investment, so it is not uncommon to see unfinished buildings in cities.

In cities where land is extremely valuable, unfinished buildings not only consume a huge amount of funds, causing investors to bear huge losses, but also waste precious land resources, which has been criticized by many people.

There are 10 "famous" unfinished buildings in China, and the investment in the most expensive one is as high as 60 billion yuan. Which ones have you seen?

1. Shenzhen Dongmen Building

In the golden commercial area of Luohu, next to the densely populated subway entrance, there is a high-rise building that has been unfinished for 23 years, which is the Shenzhen Dongmen Building.

As one of the few megacities and sub-provincial cities in China, Shenzhen's housing prices have already exceeded 58,000 yuan per square meter, making it a place where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold. It is hard to imagine that this unfinished building has been left unattended.The Dongmen Building began construction in 1995 but was put on hold in 1997 due to issues with property rights and funding.

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In fact, the Dongmen Building is in a very advantageous location. To the east of the building is a school, with shops densely packed nearby and a large flow of people, making it an ideal investment spot, a "Feng Shui treasure land." It is indeed a waste of resources for it to become an unfinished building.

It was not until 2020 that the local government took a series of rectification measures for the Dongmen Building, resolving the property rights disputes and revitalizing the land resources.

II. Hangzhou Wanyu Building

In 2010, a boss from Wenzhou spent 120 million to build the Wanyu Building in the Qianjiang Century City of Hangzhou. He seemed to have reached the peak of his life, but the world is unpredictable.

In 2018, the Wenzhou boss was imprisoned for 7 years, leaving behind an unfinished building.

The Wanyu Building is divided into two sections, A and B. Its original plan was to build high-end office buildings and shops, which is basically the operation model of shopping malls nationwide.If the Wan Yu Building could be constructed as planned, the final returns would not be disappointing. However, it eventually came to a halt due to a shortage of funds and various illegal operations.

After the suspension of construction, the boss also went missing, leaving the wages of migrant workers and construction laborers without a source, forcing them to hold banners to demand their pay. These illegal operations have brought a lot of trouble to the handling of the Wan Yu Building.

In the end, the Wan Yu Building was successfully auctioned off for 780 million yuan, ending its path as an unfinished construction project.

III. Guangzhou Zhongshui Building

Located in the bustling Tianhe North Road commercial area in Guangzhou, the Zhongshui Building stands as the first unfinished construction project in Guangzhou. With its 43-story height, it is not easy to demolish, and it cannot be reused due to various issues.

The most important aspect of a high-rise building is not its height but its quality. Otherwise, safety issues can easily arise during typhoon weather. The reason why the Zhongshui Building has not been put into operation is that its quality does not meet the standards.

When the contractor was constructing the building, they cut corners, leading to a failed inspection. The investor's investment of more than 600 million yuan was wasted, and the undecorated concrete surface of the Zhongshui Building is out of place with the surrounding buildings.In addition to Zhongshui Building, there are 35 unfinished buildings in Guangzhou, almost all of which were halted due to the breakage of the capital chain. These unfinished buildings not only waste land resources but also affect the image of the city.

IV. Chongqing Nanshan Mansion

The positioning of Chongqing Nanshan Mansion is a high-end villa area. The 51 neatly arranged villas are located in Hua Guo Society, Tushan Town, Nan'an, which is a famous scenic spot in the area.

From the villa, you can see the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Jialing River, with fresh air and beautiful scenery. If it had not become an unfinished building, it would have been very popular among high-end people.

In 2008, Dongqi Real Estate started to build Nanshan Mansion with the theme of "Dongqi · Fantasy Realm", and the procedures for planning, forestry, and other aspects were all passed smoothly.

However, real estate investment is a money-burning project, and it is easy to go bankrupt without a huge amount of capital, which can easily lead to a breakage of the capital chain.

One of the development companies withdrew after investing 59.84 million yuan due to financial pressure.

Dongqi Real Estate has had many disputes in the process of trust financing, and lawsuits are endless. The construction of Nanshan Mansion can only be shelved, becoming a desolate building in the scenic area.V. Chengdu Greenland 468 Starlight

The Starlight project is also a real estate product catering to high-end individuals, primarily providing a social venue for corporate executives in the most prosperous areas of the city.

However, until May of this year, the Starlight project seemed to have disappeared without a trace, with no one guarding the construction site, and the periphery was tightly sealed.

The most eye-catching building in the Starlight project is the Shu Peak Building, which will become the tallest building in Chengdu, reaching a height of 468 meters, attracting companies such as Huawei and JD.com to cooperate.

In order to make a name for itself, the company even stated that it would perform a light show at the 31st World University Games.

However, the construction progress of the project is very unsatisfactory, and the entire building has not been topped off.

This unfinished building has become a well-known "famous building" in the local area, affecting the regional image and having a certain negative impact on the surrounding commercial development.Section Six: Tianjin 117 Tower

"Height" seems to have become a marketing gimmick for commercial buildings and office buildings. The titles of the world's tallest building and China's tallest building themselves come with traffic, attracting investors and tourists.

Named for its 117 floors, Tianjin's 117 Tower should be the tallest and most famous among all the unfinished buildings.

The 117 Tower, bearing the title of China's tallest structural building, has not progressed smoothly. The surroundings of the building are very desolate, which makes people both marvel at its investment and regret its suspension.

The construction of the 117 Tower began in 2008, and for the following nine years, it has been wandering between suspension and unfinished state. By 2016, it had already invested nearly 40 billion yuan, and then it was sold for 18 billion yuan, with construction costs rising.

The sales performance of the completed 117 Tower is also not ideal. Buying a house requires at least 6 million yuan, with housing prices around 40,000 yuan per square meter, but the housing price in the urban area of Tianjin is only 28,000 yuan per square meter.

Section Seven: Dushu Building in Dushan County, Guizhou

The Dushu Building in Dushan County is known as "the world's number one Dushu Building". It is not well-known for its grandeur and magnificence, but it was known to everyone because Pan Zhili, the secretary of the Dushan County Committee, was investigated.As a county in Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou Province, Dushan County's annual fiscal revenue is less than 1 billion yuan, yet Pan Zhili has spent a huge sum of 200 million yuan to build the so-called "world's tallest colored glaze pottery building."

Developing the tourism industry is indeed a focus of the country in recent years, and many cities are vigorously promoting their unique tourism industries. It is not wrong for Dushan County to follow the policy.

However, the government should act within its means and should not sacrifice the legitimate rights and interests of the people in order to develop tourism, ultimately leading to the Shuǐ Sī Lóu becoming a "sky-high unfinished building."

After the completion of Shuǐ Sī Lóu, the initial expectations were not realized, and ideas such as accommodation, exhibitions, and expositions were not achieved. It was not until this year that the Dushan County government began to address the operation of Shuǐ Sī Lóu.

Eight, Kunming's Internet Celebrity Real Estate Project

A popular real estate project in Kunming named "Different Happiness City" eventually became an unfortunate "happiness," taking 10 years for the owners to move into the houses they had bought for many years.

In 2013, the construction of Different Happiness City began, with housing prices at about 8,000 yuan per square meter.The homeowners were eagerly looking forward to moving into their new homes in 2015, but the developer's funding chain broke, causing the houses to be unable to be delivered on time.

In the following 10 years, the Bietang Xingfu City had no water and electricity, and the owners who moved in had great inconvenience in their daily life, but they still had to pay the mortgage every month.

Many residents had no money to rent a house after spending all their savings, and could only move into the Bietang Xingfu City with incomplete infrastructure, living a life of carrying water and using rechargeable lamps for lighting every day.

Fortunately, with the intervention of the government, Xingfu City was finally delivered in 2023, and it promised to continue to improve the infrastructure such as playgrounds and senior activity centers.

Nine, Shijiazhuang Xiangyun International

Xiangyun International is also a famous "Internet celebrity unfinished building". It is a residential and commercial area started by Hebei Federal Group in 2009, covering an area of 485 acres.

Xiangyun International, which should have been built and delivered according to plan, stopped construction in 2014 for two main reasons.

On the one hand, the funding chain of Hebei Federal Group was not in place, and it was unable to repay the debt as agreed, and did not have the ability to repay the debt, and was declared to be reorganized by the court.On the other hand, there are inherent problems with Xiangyun International itself. The developer engaged in illegal land occupation and illegal fundraising during the construction process, and the relevant leaders of the Federal Group were also arrested and imprisoned for these illegal activities.

Shijiazhuang is the capital city of Hebei Province, where every piece of land has a designated use and economic value. The unfinished construction of Xiangyun International has affected urban planning and left many hidden safety hazards, infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of more than 5,000 people.

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"Capital of Unfinished Buildings" Nanyang

Nanyang profoundly illustrates how unfinished buildings can impact a city's image. In 2014, it had 302 problematic real estate projects, with unfinished buildings only accounting for a small portion of these.

Not only does the outside world have the impression of Nanyang as the "Capital of Unfinished Buildings," but even the locals mock themselves for buying group housing that ends up unfinished.

Take the Mei Li Zhi Du residential area, which was supposed to be handed over in 2016 as an example. Out of 41 residential buildings, only three have residents living in them, while the rest remain completely empty.

These vacant houses are not unsold; they are simply uninhabitable.The majority of the houses are in a raw state, either just an empty frame standing there, or dark at night, forming a particularly lifeless expanse.

To address the issue of unfinished construction, Nanyang began to rectify the real estate industry from 2014, but the effect was minimal. Even after five years, the problem of unfinished buildings was not completely resolved.

Conclusion

Chinese people place great importance on "clothing, food, housing, and transportation." Any issue in these areas can affect the quality of life.

Moreover, a house is the most important asset for an ordinary family, so the unfinished buildings affect the interests of millions of ordinary people, and the money invested by investors has also been wasted.

Investments in the real estate industry often involve tens of millions, and many high-rise buildings cannot be obtained without hundreds of millions of capital. The aforementioned enterprises that went bankrupt due to capital chain ruptures are typical examples.

For a long time, real estate investment in China has been too "hot," and these unfinished buildings are warning investors to act within their means.

The local government should also do a good job in controlling the real estate construction to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people.