From thousands upon thousands of kilometers
of empty city roads in the middle of the Mojave desert, to the tallest abandoned building
in the entire world, and an eerily empty ghost city filled with hundreds of identical abandoned
villas. This is part three of our most useless megaprojects
series. Number 3: California City
Situated in one of the driest and most unforgiving places in the United States is California's
third-largest city by land area. Spanning as much as 500 square kilometers
in the middle of the Mojave Desert, California City is a failed attempt at creating America’s
next biggest metropolis that would rival the likes of Los Angeles or New York. The city’s history begins with a man named
Nathan K. Mendelsohn. Mendelsohn was a Czech-born sociology professor
from Columbia University who studied the structure of towns and villages. After the Second World War, California’s
economy boomed. With plenty of military bases and defense
infrastructure, the state received regular funding from the federal government. And so hundreds of thousands of people started
to flock to California hoping for better opportunities. Mendelsohn wanted to be part of this rapid
growth, so in 1958 he purchased 30,000 hectares of land in the middle of the Mojave Desert. His plan was to transform this barren wasteland
into a bustling suburban utopia that would rival neighboring Los Angeles just 150 kilometers
to the south. But of all places, why did Mendelsohn want
to build his city in the middle of the desert? There were two reasons. First, desert land far away from city centers
like San Francisco or Los Angeles was very cheap. Second, Mendelsohn chose this precise plot
of land in the Mojave to build his city after learning about the existence of an underground
lake. This groundwater would have single-handedly
sustained the water needs of the entire city in an area where water was pretty hard to
come by. Shortly after the purchase, the California
City Development Company (CCDC) was created with Mendelsohn taking on a leading position. The CCDC was tasked with overseeing and managing
the development of California City. By 1961, the master plan for the city’s
creation was already in full swing. To entice potential buyers to purchase land
and property, a central park was built along with an artificial lake that would serve as
the centerpiece of the city. Plenty of other amenities were constructed
during this time which included two golf courses and a four-story motel just beside the park. On top of all the infrastructure development,
all throughout the early 1960s, Mendelsohn heavily advertised California City in the
Los Angeles Times. He called it an investment worth buying and
described the development as both a “giant venture” and the “largest community in
the US”. Also part of Mendelsohn’s campaign was marketing
the city through a “real estate school” that would train and license individuals to
sell land. But despite all of Mendelsohn’s efforts
in developing and advertising the city to grow to millions and millions of citizens,
seven years after its beginning it only had a total of just over 800 residents. Much of the city’s land was left undeveloped
as empty plots of land dotted the desert landscape. Despite the cheap price tag, only a few gambled
with Mendelsohn’s promise of America’s next biggest city. In 1969, Mendelsohn sold the majority of his
shares in the company when sales started to dwindle down. He was starting to realize that his vision
of a bustling city in the desert was slowly fading away. During this time, the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) also started investigating allegations of fraud and corruption. By 1972, the FTC issued a cease and desist
order for misleading advertising. This was because the real estate school was
only designed to sell plots of land in California City and not actually train people to be professional
real estate brokers. Additionally, the FTC deemed the property
encumbered and most advertised amenities and infrastructure such as roads were not completed. Today, after more than six decades of continuous
yet slow growth, California City is home to a population of 15,000 people. A single McDonald’s, a Starbucks, and a
couple of strip malls line the city’s main boulevard which sees minimal traffic all throughout
the day. A small airport and a regular bus service
connects the small city to the rest of California. Meanwhile, a privately-owned prison in the
city’s undeveloped east side serves as the city’s main source of employment. Although California City may look like your
usual American rural town, when viewed from above, remnants of the city’s ambitious
past can still be seen today. Much of the city’s land to the east still
remains undeveloped. Dirt roads form a useless expansive grid that
would have been the skeleton of Mendelsohn’s envisioned metropolis. The plumbing infrastructure from the 60s also
still remains and has become extremely costly for the local government to maintain. Mendelsohn’s vision may have not come to
fruition, but a renewed interest in the city’s unique history is putting California City
back into the radar. Online magazines, artists, and photographers
have become fascinated with the city’s story and some even believe that “the city is
worth reexamining given the current housing crisis in the country”. Only time will tell where this unfinished
city is headed towards, and as it stands today, much of California City remains as a useless
megaproject in the middle of the desert. Number 2: The Tallest Abandoned Building in
the World With a towering height of 600 meters, the
Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, China holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s
tallest unoccupied building. A record that China frankly never wanted to
hold in the first place. But before it was eventually abandoned, the
tower would have become China’s third and the world’s sixth tallest skyscraper if
it were to ever be completed. Plans for the tower’s construction were
first drafted back in the early 2000s, a time wherein many Chinese cities were all competing
for international fame and recognition through rapid infrastructure development. The man behind the project was billionaire
Pat Sutong, chairman of Hong Kong-based investment company Goldin Financial Holdings. Goldin Finance 117 was to be the centerpiece
of Goldin Metropolitan—a 1.8 square kilometer luxury residential and business district located
just outside of downtown Tianjin. Along with the central skyscraper, multiple
residential and commercial buildings were to be constructed in the area. The skyscraper itself would contain 128 floors
above ground, with 117 floors being used for a mixed use of housing and commercial space. The other 11 floors are dedicated for mechanical
and operational systems. The plan for Goldin Finance 117 also included
an iconic diamond-shaped roof which would be three storeys high. This area would house the world’s highest
observation deck, swimming pool, and restaurant at a height of 580 meters above the ground. Construction on the tower began in 2008 with
a scheduled completion in 2014. However in early 2010, just following the
Global Financial Crisis, construction work on the tower was suspended. With plenty of other assets and investments
in the west to take care of, Goldin had to temporarily cut costs elsewhere and so the
tower’s construction was paused. Eventually, when the market finally stabilized,
construction resumed in 2011 and the skyscraper was now scheduled to open in 2018. In September 2015, the building was finally
topped-out marking the completion of the skyscraper’s structure. This would have been an occasion for celebration,
but unfortunately for Sutong and the Goldin company, things were just about to blow over. June 2015 saw the Chinese stock market crash
and Goldin’s share price plummeted by as much as 67%. Sutong himself, who had a massive stake in
the company lost as much as $13 billion USD in the aftermath of this crisis. Just three months after the building was topped-out,
Goldin suspended all construction work on the project indefinitely. Although it might look like Goldin Finance
117 failed because of unfortunate market timings and financing issues, that alone is not the
complete picture. Ever since the construction began 14 years
ago, the skyscraper was already doomed to fail. Everything about the project from the high-end
amenities to the idea of living in one of the tallest buildings in the world painted
Goldin Finance 117 as a luxury. Something that was targeted towards the rich
elite. Even if the project would have been completed,
the target market the skyscraper was aiming for simply didn’t exist in Tianjin. Nobody who lived near the project could actually
afford what it was trying to offer. And it is uncertain whether wealthy Chinese
would have moved to Tianjin from far away just to live in a super tall skyscraper. As it stands today, the building still remains
unfinished. The contractor for the project has completely
abandoned the construction site taking all workers and equipment with them. The Goldin Finance 117 now stands tall above
Tianjin and remains as a useless hunk of concrete that has never been occupied, and it’s probably
going to stay this way for many years to come. Number 1: Burj al Babas
Nestled just south of the picturesque city of Mudurnu in northwestern Turkey is a fascinating
yet eerie sight. Hundreds upon hundreds of abandoned chateau-style
homes dot the mountainous landscape with not a single soul in sight. Burj al Babas was supposed to be a luxury
residential development catered towards wealthy oil executives, but it never saw the light
of day. Construction on the residential complex began
in 2014 and was scheduled to finish four years later. The plan was to create a total of 732 of these
identical-looking villas to be rented out or sold to wealthy individuals. Each villa would have three storeys, its own
balcony, a spiral staircase leading towards it, traditional Turkish interiors, and homeowners
had the option to install an indoor pool in the basement. Additionally, the project also included a
central shopping center that would house shops, restaurants, health and beauty centers, a
cinema, and a mosque. On top of all that, the site for Burj al Babas’
construction is also located above a geothermal spring. And so a traditional Turkish bath was planned
to be constructed above the hot springs as part of the many amenities the project offered
its potential buyers. Each villa was reportedly priced around the
neighborhood of $400,000 - $500,000 USD. The idea being that the properties would be
of interest to wealthy Gulf investors which is the target market of the project. Initially, the project seemed to be going
quite well as nearly half of all the villas were already financed by investors. But by 2018, the entire project suddenly came
to a crashing stop with only 587 of the planned 732 villas being erected. When the global oil market tanked in the same
year, Burj al Babas’ investors were severely affected by the sudden falling of oil prices. To make matters worse, Turkey’s economy
was already going through a rough patch with an inflation rate of as much as 25%—the
highest it has ever been in 15 years. Most of Burj al Babas’ buyers were quick
to withdraw from the project as Turkey’s construction industry saw a massive downturn
following the economic situation of the country. With a project valued at $200 million USD,
and little to no sales that actually pushed through, the company behind the Burj al Babas
now saw themselves $27 million USD in debt and in serious trouble. Around the same time, Turkish court ordered
the company to file for bankruptcy and stop construction on the project given its situation. The developer tried to appeal this ruling
and believed that they could overcome the crisis by saying that “We only need to sell
100 villas to pay off our debt. I believe we can get over this crisis in four
to five months and partially inaugurate the project in 2019”. This of course never happened and up to this
day, Burj al Babas remains as a ghost town amidst the picturesque landscape of northwestern
Turkey. The project has been abandoned for three years
now and not a single villa has ever been constructed to completion. It has been so long since the project was
abandoned to the point wherein some of the many houses are now crumbling and being destroyed
by nature over time. Three years have now passed since construction
stopped on Burj al Babas and no other developer has dared to continue the project. The future of this project over the next few
years remains uncertain, but one thing is for sure. For now, the site will remain empty with nothing
but hundreds of identical-looking villas. What do you think about these megaprojects? Do you think they would ever be completed? Let us know in the comments down below. If you want to learn more about other failed
megaprojects, you can check out part one and part two of our useless megaprojects series. Thank you very much for watching, and see
you in the next video!
