MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Santiago to have world's tallest residential tower

The Spanish business group Mall announced plans for a 600 million US dollar residential tower for Santiago de Chile, a structure that, once built, will be the world's tallest residential building.

The proposed "The Lighthouse of Chile" project envisions three residential towers, the largest with 84 stories (346 meters high). The other two skyscrapers will stand on either side of the main tower and will be 74 stories high (290 meters). At a presentation to potential investors, Mall president Julio Noval said his company is currently searching for the right location for the skyscrapers and aims to have the three structures built within the next three years. The project replicates an earlier residential complex completed in Panama, but with certain alterations due to differences in seismic activity. Noval said the company's aim is to build the world's tallest residential building and that it will build similar projects in Argentina, Mexico, and possibly in Colombia. The tallest building project currently under way in Chile is the Costanera Center, which will cost 500 million US dollars to construct four towers. The tallest will be the Gran Torre Costanera, at a height of 300 meters. Costanera Center owner Cencosud had been touting its project as the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere, and hence, in South America. The Santiago Times