The seven-level public observatory will join retail space onfloors one through five, office space on floors seven through 77and a hotel on floor 79 that pushes through to floor 93 in thecenter, which reportedly cost more than $1 billion USD to build.The hotel, the Park Hyatt Shanghai, is the world's highest hoteland boasts 174 rooms. The price of the rooms and office or retailare undisclosed.

The tower was begun in 1997 when they laid the foundation for asmaller, 97-story version--at the time, to be the tallest structurein the world, eclipsing the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. After thefoundations were laid, construction was halted when the JapaneseMori Building Corp. had a "fund shortage caused by the Asianfinancial crisis," according to a release. The Taipei 101 tower inTaiwan was built in the interim and measures 508 meters with itsspire, so that when the construction renewed in 2003, the buildingwas increased to its current height--490 meters--but could not bemade larger, as the foundation was already in place for a smallerbuilding. The under-construction Burj Dubai in the United ArabEmirates is the purportedly tallest man-made structure in theworld, even unfinished.

The observatory area will open to the public on Aug. 30, 2008and the hotel will begin taking guests on Sept. 1, 2008. The roomrates begin at $3,600. Mori Building Co. Ltd did not discloseretail or office rental rates to GlobeSt.com inquiries.