INCHEON | Northeast Asia Trade Tower | 305m | U/C

Technically, the tower is being constructed in New Songdo City in the city of Incheon. However, I'll keep it as Incheon. Rising 984 feet above the Yellow Sea, the Northeast Asia Trade Tower (NEATT) will be the first of many commercial office buildings within Songdo International City. This landmark location for top-tier global and Korean companies will also provide impressive shopping opportunities and accommodations. This spectacular building will feature a sky lounge on the top floor with amazing views of the sweeping vistas of the island’s dotted Yellow Sea and nearby mountain peaks. The office space will set the benchmark in Northeast Asia for a prestigious, globally oriented, 24-hour business complex. It will be home to many leading international corporations and financial institutions. Service hotel space will serve to augment the amenities offered to tenants and guests. The tower’s retail space will be home to flagship boutiques of many famous international fashion names. This area will have one of the highest concentrations of fashion, jewelry, dining and lifestyle brands in Asia. With panoramic views of Central Park, the Yellow Sea and the city of Incheon, the hotel and office space will be fully equipped to appeal to discriminating tastes. Guests and owners will enjoy the finest interior details and finishes as well as be pampered with five-star service. The Northeast Asia Trade Tower: the landmark of Songdo International City. > http://www.songdo.com/default.aspx?p=1759 ----------------------------- Korean Towers Aimed to be among World's Tallest World's 3rd-Tallest Tower Planned for Seoul Korea has joined the race of nations competing to build the world's tallest buildings in an effort to mark themselves as global business centers. Thursday, a ground-breaking ceremony was held for a 65-story (300m) tower in Songdo International City in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. When it's completed in 2009, the Northeast Asia Trade Tower (NEATT) will be the tallest building in the nation, two stories higher than the 63 Building in Youido, Seoul. Built on a spacious 148,725-sq.meter site, the first 33 floors will house office space for multi-national businesses and financial firms. A hotel with more than 200 rooms and amenities will take the 34th to 64th floors. Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu said during the ceremony that the NEATT will become a landmark for Songdo International City and will play a significant role in attracting foreign investors. If things go according to plan, the NEATT's status as Korea's tallest building won't last long -- a competitor, the Incheon Tower, is going up just 30 minutes away. Planned to soar to 151 stories (550m), Incheon Tower is due to break ground late this year and reach completion in 2012. The projected cost is W3 trillion (US$1=W937). When it's done, the building should be the second highest in the world, behind the Burj Dubai which is under construction in Dubai and set to finish next year. Meanwhile, another skyscraper is going up in Busan -- the 107-story Lotte World 2, which its builders hope to complete in 2013. Equipped with high-tech facilities to support global businesses, the 300m 65-story Northeast Asia Trade Tower is aimed to become one of Korea's most prominent landmarks. ◆ The Sky's the Limit The sky's-the-limit competition to build the world's tallest towers seemed to come to an end in the 1970s with the construction of New York's World Trade Center (417m, 110 floors) in 1972 and the 110-floor Sears Tower (443m) in Chicago in 1974. But with the completion of the 88-story Petronas Towers (452m) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1999, the race was back on again. In 2004, the 508m Taipei 101 building in Taiwan finally exceeded the 500m mark and next year the Burj Dubai will hit 160 floors. Also on the way is the 101-story World Financial Center planned for Shanghai, China, and the 108-story World Commercial Center due for Hong Kong in 2010. The driving force behind the competition is prestige: high-rises are more than architectural wonders, they serve as landmarks that represent to the world an image of progress and financial might. By attracting hordes of camera-toting tourists and powerful corporate tenants, these monuments proclaim their city's standing in the international community and its power in the global economy. From left: 1) A bird's-eye view of the Northeast Asia Trade Tower (65 stories, 300m) in Incheon, scheduled for completion in 2009. 2) The Shanghai World Financial Center, a 101-story, 492m office building set to be done next year. 3) The Taipei 101, a 101-story, 508m skyscraper finished in Taiwan in 2004. 4) Incheon Tower will rise 151 floors (550m) above Korea when it’s done in 2012. 5) The Burj Dubai, a 160-story, 700m superscraper will be completed in Dubai in 2008. ◆ Incheon Has a Long Way to Go If its two super-tall towers are ever finished, the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) won't lag in the international building race. But the project has been slow to fulfill the ambitions of its planners. The total projected cost for developing IFEZ is a stunning W202 trillion, with 90 percent or more of that supposed to come from the private sector. However since the establishment of IFEZ in Oct. 2003, only a few businesses have chipped in for a total of W15 trillion, less than 10 percent of what is needed. Worse, only nine foreign companies are scheduled to move to the area, bringing along just W130 billion in foreign direct investment. If IFEZ is truly going to become the global power center that those giant towers suggest, experts say that restrictions must first be eased. (englishnews@chosun.com )> http://english.chosun.com/w21data/ht...702020005.html>