A DERELICT skyscraper that was supposed to become luxury flats has been left abandoned for decades and is now only used as a giant billboard.
For 26 years, Sathorn Unique Tower has sat unfinished in Bangkok after the 1997 Asian financial crisis crushed any hope of the pricey complex being finished in Thailand’s capital.
AlamyThe derelict skyscraper has been left unfinished despite construction starting in 1990[/caption]
AlamyGraffiti and rubbish has been left on the building, especially on the top floor[/caption]
GettySitting in the heart of Bangkok, the ghost tower stands over 820ft tall and is made up of 49 storeys[/caption]
The ghost tower, standing over 820ft tall, was planned to have 49 storeys and more than 600 apartments.
It was almost 80 per cent complete, but now the old building lays empty, covered in graffiti.
With majestic theatre style balconies overlooking the bustling city and pretty garden areas visible from the ground, the tower was nearly finished.
Construction began in 1990 but it didn’t take long to run into big trouble.
Being designed and developed by popular architect Rangsan Torsuwan, who also designed the sister building, the State Tower, people had very high hopes for the new build.
Until 1993 when the project was swiftly stopped as Torsuwan was arrested for allegedly plotting to murder the President of the Supreme Court, Praman Chansue.
Rangsan was found guilty in 2008 but got out two years later through the Court of Appeals.
After the brutal financial collapse in 1997, Bangkok’s real estate market completely collapsed, and the projects’ investors went bankrupt along with many others around Thailand.
More than 300 unfinished high-rise projects were left eerily untouched for years until new investors came in to finish them off, as was the case with the State Tower.
Sathorn Unique however was left and sits alongside a dozen other ghost towers in the city.
It takes up a huge 34,000 sq ft and has been described as “exultant post-modernism, architectural pastiche in which styles and eras are thrown together without any signs of restraint.”
It has been used a handful of times since the money dried up decades ago, most notably as a giant billboard that sits across 18 floors and advertises everything from new iPhones to Pepsi commercials.
According to a board member at Sathorn Unique Co, the building’s owners, the tower has become a tourist hotspot since 2015.
He talked about how the number of people illegally entering the building had risen dramatically after videos were filmed inside and posted online.
His team witnessed more than a hundred people turning up on some weekends.
According to people who have been to the top of the tower, it’ll cost you 200 baht (£4.60) to stroll past the guards who protect it.
The body of a Swedish backpacker was also found hanging from the 43rd floor after he is thought to have committed suicide.
The horror flick The Promise shot some scenes there as well that alongside the apparent suicide has caused the building to become known as haunted.
The creepy building is also built on top of an ancient grave yard.
Today the building regularly floods.
The top floor has been caked in graffiti and most of the protective spikes designed to stop people climbing on top of the building have ironically been torn down.
This comes after a man discovered one of the world’s largest underground cities where 20,000 people lived – while chasing his chickens.
The unidentified bloke stumbled across the former metropolis while in pursuit of his escaping poultry in his home in Cappadocia, Turkey.
More than 600 private properties that sat on the surface level boasted entrances that connected to the underground society.
Another homeowner stumbled across a secret underground metropolis while renovating the basement of his house.
A man in the Turkish town of Derinkuyu took a sledgehammer to his wall and discovered a huge tunnel that led to connecting halls and chambers.
And, an underground “spy city” beneath London filled with the nation’s secrets could also be open soon to the public.
A mile-long series of tunnels dug during the Blitz in World War 2 is being lined up to become a multi-million-pound tourist attraction.
AlamyThe tower has been called haunted due to a suicide and it being built on a burial site[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
