A Court in China Sells an Unfinished Skyscraper at an Auction
A Chinese court has offered an unfinished 39-story building at an initial auction of 553 million yuan (71 million euros) online at an auction today, the France press reported.
The 156-meter building, with a total area of 76,000 square meters, is located in Taiyuan, in the northern province of Shanxi.
The construction started in 2006 but was suspended in 2010 due to lack of funds after the end of rough construction. The hotel, which was to be housed in the building, has never opened doors, according to the Shanxi High Court, quoted by the Xinhua agency.
That's why the court is launching a skyscraper auction and pitch at China's leading Taobao online trading site, a leading platform of local e-commerce leader Alibaba, also called Chinese eBay.
The court distributed photographs of poorly lit underground parking lots and dusty floors with stacks of building materials.
In an effort to ensure transparency in the sale of confiscated assets, most Chinese courts have opened accounts in Taobao's court auction platform, Xinhua notes.
All seized items can be purchased at this site - residential buildings, cars, jewelery, mobile phones.
In November, a 28-storey building was auctioned for 218 million yuan by a court in the eastern province of Zhejiang, but no one made an offer.