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A 61-year-old hotel that has never had a guest
- nmrm2 11y agoWhat's astounding is that the regional government can fund something to the tune of millions of dollars, then red tape it to death. Almost makes me wonder if the project failed due to the vicissitudes of political climate. Those sorts of politics happen in companies too, which makes me wonder if there are similar "almost done, could be great, but never quite finished" pieces of software.
- brc 11y agoLooking at it simply, it's obvious that it was never designed to be opened. Seems as though large amounts of public money have been in play. If you look at the results it would seem to be that it was designed to siphon off funds.
- danieltillett 11y agoIt would seem that this was a success then. It take real skill to be able to siphon of funds for the same building 4 times.
- digi_owl 11y agoThe only red tape issue i see is the one were they forgot to ask for the funds. The drainage thing reminds me of a recent story about an airport in Germany (iirc), or for that matter how many highrises in Dubai are without a sewage connection, so each day 100s of tanker trucks transport sewage to a dump.
- peterfirefly 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Brandenburg_Airport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Brandenburg_Airport http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/12/germanys-star-building-projects-morph-national-disgrace-268385.html http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/12/germanys-star-building-pr... http://istderberschonfertig.de/ http://istderberschonfertig.de/ Machine translation works quite well with the last link.
- philbarr 11y ago> makes me wonder if there are similar "almost done, could be great, but never quite finished" pieces of software. Absolutely there are. I worked on one project with ~30 other devs on one project for 3 years, then a change of management high up somewhere brings in a new guy who wants to make an impact, so he kills it and has the whole thing rewritten on a newer platform.
- batbomb 11y agoMakes you wonder what will happen to the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas
- iiiggglll 11y agoThat thing is incredible. For those who are unfamiliar, it is an empty, uncompleted, unoccupied multi-billion dollar resort-hotel on the Las Vegas strip that was left unfinished after the big real estate market bust of the late 2000s. The outer shell of the building was completed all the way up to the highest floor, but the interior was never finished and according to Wikipedia it would require an estimated $1.5 billion more to finish to the point where it could open. It's been sitting unfinished in the middle of Las Vegas for years now, much like the famous Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea. The building itself is a sight to behold. Even in the outsized scale of Las Vegas, it's considerably taller than most hotels on the strip. I took a walk towards its end of the strip one night without knowing what it was, and after initially seeing it in the distance and thinking it was fairly small, it just kept getting bigger and bigger without seeming to get any closer. Finally I got up next to it and counted the floors in amazement. It's very surreal to see this giant unfinished monolith sitting completely dark in the middle of all the lights and activity of Vegas. Amazingly, it's still the #2 tallest building in the city (surpassed only by The Stratosphere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Las_Vegas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_L...
- wingerlang 11y agoSimilarly, in Bangkok https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathorn_Unique_Tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathorn_Unique_Tower Also stands in a central spot right next to pretty expensive apartment buildings.
- scurvy 11y agoReminds me of the Prora, a weird Nazi hotel compound on the Baltic Sea that was never finished: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/01/the-10000-bedroom-nazi-hotel-that-was.html http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/01/the-10000-bedroom-nazi-...
- the_mitsuhiko 11y agoThat complex has been used many times and is currentlybbeing partially used. It just never was the hotel it was supposed to be due to war and cold war.
- icanhackit 11y ago> "Strength through Joy" ("Kraft durch Freude," KdF) Interesting that kraft is analogous to both strength and skill in German. Similarly in old Norse it's both strength and virtue. In English craft is defined as skill, i.e. in making things, yet Northwestern European languages place an emphasis on strength. I wonder if it's because as the language developed it was a time when making things required more strength than mental discipline/skill, such as lifting logs and stone for constructing shelter, roads, retaining walls etc.
- kriro 11y agoI wouldn't say "Kraft" is analogous to skill in German. In fact I'd be willing to say it's never used in that sense. "Fähigkeit", "Fertigkeit", "Kompetenz" and a few others are usually used for "skill". "Kraft" can have a spiritual meaning of sorts (vitalize) though. "Kraft schöpfen" is often used to sort of mean gather your thoughts and get revitalized. That's how it's used in KdF. I guess "mental strength" fits most closely in the KdF example. There's also an old-ish word "Geisteskraft" which means something like mental strength. However it does have a different connotation than skill.
- icanhackit 11y ago> In fact I'd be willing to say it's never used in that sense. I stand corrected. Based on a quick search, what I gather is that kraft tends to be used (in conjunction with other words) to define forms of force. Thanks for taking the time to explain in-depth.
- mmmBacon 11y agoReminiscent of North Korea's Hotel of Doom more officially known as the Ryungyong Hotel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel
- amazon_not 11y agoThis is just a repost of the http://www.thelocal.it/20150716/grande-hotel-san-calogero-no-guests-in-60-years http://www.thelocal.it/20150716/grande-hotel-san-calogero-no... story. Pretty brasen by Fortune.
- digi_owl 11y agoSeems it must have been resold via some kind of wire service, as seaching for it finds the same basic headline across a number of news sites.
- seanmcdirmid 11y agoThis is just par for the course in China. It is all about money laundering and not real mismanagement, the reasons are all "unclear" because these buildings are not built to be actually used...lots of corners are cuts and pockets are padded. So having an excuse not to open works out, and places the inevitable outrage into the next or next next administration.
- beachstartup 11y agouh, this story is about italy.
- waterlesscloud 11y agoSure. But the point is that the money all goes to the local good ol' boys, whoever they are. The local contractors who pour concrete. Beyond that...well, no one cares.
- seanmcdirmid 11y agoSo? It's the same story in countries with highish levels of corruption.
- chrischen 11y agoChina's corruption is almost all a byproduct of rapid growth. Italy's lacks that growth right now so their corruption is coming from somewhere else, perhaps intrinsic.
- seanmcdirmid 11y agoIt doesn't matter where the corruption comes from, the rules of the game for transferring money from public pocket A to private pocket B using sham projects are pretty universal.
- moron4hire 11y agoDid you just say that Italians are intrinsically corrupt people? I hope that's not what that meant.
- riquito 11y ago> it was finally completed in 1984 So it's 31-year old
- bwb 11y agoOh italy, you never change :)
- blue1 11y agoWaste of public money in Sicily is outrageous even for italian standards.
- Garlef 11y agoWhy is this article linked here? It seems to have very poor journalistic standards: An article about a money sink on sicily, home of the cosa nostra, without mentioning money laundering.
- stefantalpalaru 11y agoHigh journalistic standards mean that you only mention money laundering when you have proof of money laundering.
- afeef 11y agoGive me a free wifi i'll make that ghost tittle goaway
- yuchi 11y agoWhile loading: “please tell me it’s not in Italy, please not here, please… fuck.”