From white elephant to gold mine

The history of the skyscraper began ten years ago, when Luxembourg-based developer Orco bought a site at ul. Złota 44/46 from Concorde Investissement. The plot, which included a functional but failing shopping centre under the name of City Center, changed hands for EUR 9.75 mln. It became clear from the very outset that something unique was to be built on the site and expectations soon soared as high as the planned 192m skyscraper, when Daniel Libeskind was eventually entrusted with the design work. Ups and downs – but mostly downs Finally, in November 2006, the launch of the sales of the 251 apartments in the building was officially announced. The project was intended to be a showpiece not only for the Warsaw but also of the entire European real estate market. A year later the building permit was granted and in March 2008 Besix, the co-contractor of the tallest building in world – the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – started the co