A Massive One-Kilometer Observation Tower Is Becoming Real in Saudi Arabia
A massive observation tower in Saudi Arabia is finally rising again after years of delays and uncertainty. JEC Tower in Jeddah has now passed the 100-floor mark, putting the project back on track to become the first building in the world to reach one kilometer in height. If completed, it would stand more than 500 feet taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
The project began in 2013 and changed names several times, from Kingdom Tower to Jeddah Tower, and now to JEC Tower. Construction slowed after Saudi Arabia’s corruption crackdown affected major figures connected to the project, including Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud and executives tied to the Binladin Group.
The pandemic added more delays, and many people assumed the tower would never be completed. Now crews are moving upward again, and the project finally looks active instead of abandoned.
The Tower Has Already Changed Jeddah’s Skyline
Image via Canva/Leonid Andronov
Fresh construction photos released in 2026 show the tower climbing rapidly above the city, with its narrow three-sided form becoming easier to recognize. The reinforced concrete core has now reached around the 100th floor, while the outer wings trail several levels behind.
Architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, the same team behind the Burj Khalifa, expect the building to surpass one kilometer in height once completed. The exact final height hasn’t been publicly revealed yet, though the tower is expected to stand well above 3,280 feet.
A tower stretching more than one kilometer into the sky still sounds almost unreal. To put that height into perspective, it would be like stacking three Eiffel Towers on top of each other. The building sits near the Red Sea and is the centerpiece of the larger Jeddah Economic City project, a development expected to cost around $20 billion. Plans for the tower include apartments, offices, a luxury hotel, and what developers say will become the highest observation deck in the world.
Building Something This Tall Comes With Problems
Image via Canva/Quality Stock Arts
Constructing a skyscraper this large poses engineering challenges beyond those of typical high-rise design. Wind becomes a major issue at extreme heights, which explains the tower’s unusual tapered shape. The structure narrows as it rises, splitting into three sections near the top to help reduce wind pressure.
The design also pulls inspiration from palm fronds, a detail the architects connected to Saudi Arabia’s landscape and culture. At the same time, the tower’s shape serves a practical purpose instead of existing purely for style.
The location created problems early on. The ground near the Red Sea coast was reportedly too weak to support a structure this massive, so engineers had to redesign parts of the foundation before construction could proceed. Even getting around inside the tower is a challenge at this scale. Current plans include more than 50 high-speed elevators moving through over 150 floors at speeds close to 12 meters per second.
Then there’s the balcony. One planned feature includes a massive circular balcony extending roughly 100 feet outward from a penthouse level about 600 meters above ground. That alone sounds like something pulled out of science fiction!
The 2028 Deadline Suddenly Feels Possible
Developers now say construction could finish by August 2028. That date once sounded wildly optimistic, especially after years of inactivity, but recent progress has changed the conversation around the tower.
Construction reportedly resumed in full force in early 2025, when the building stood at around 63 stories tall. Since then, crews have accelerated work enough to hit triple digits in floor count within less than two years. Reports also suggest roughly half the tower’s concrete work has already been completed.
After years of hearing about delays, people can finally see the structure dominating Jeddah’s skyline in real time. At this point, the conversation has moved past “Will this happen?” and closer to “How far can they actually take it?”