The building was originally developed as a hotel but the project was abandoned due to a lack of funding

A 39-storey skyscraper in the auction platform of Alibaba’s e-commerce marketplace Taobao.

The auctioneer, a Chinese court, has set the starting bid at RMB 553 million (US$84 million) and will place the building and the land which it occupies on the auction block on January 2, 2018.

Development on the building, which is located in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, began in 2006. It stands at 156 metres high and features 76,000 sqm of floor space.  It was designed to be a hotel, but due to a lack of funding the project was suspended in 2010.

 

Since 2012, Chinese courts have used the judicial section of Taobao’s auction platform, paimai.taobao.com, to auction off goods and assets seized during lawsuits.

Also Read: China’s securities commission orders LeEco founder to return to country, settle debts

The auction platform does not take a comission and requires bidders to register with real names and place a deposit in their bidding account via Alipay, thereby ensuring greater transparency.

Notable assets that have been auctioned off include a Singapore-registered vessel, which was auctioned off for RMB 81 million (US$11.8 million), and two Boeing-747 jets, which were auctioned off for RMB 320 million (US$48 million) each.

—

Image Credit: Taobao

The post A 39-storey building is being auctioned off on Taobao for US$84M appeared first on e27.