By April 2017, portions of the roller coaster's track had been completed by Intamin and were placed in storage, but construction of the complex was still on hold pending permit approval. The addition of virtual reality headsets to Skyscraper was announced in late 2016, and the expected opening date was updated to 2019. However, design changes and a lengthy process for obtaining the necessary permits caused several delays in breaking ground, and the timeline was updated to reflect construction on the complex beginning in mid-2017. Construction on the main complex was expected to begin in 2015, with the ride opening in 2016. Skyscraper was officially announced on June 5, 2014. Documents uncovered by an Orlando news agency revealed that the roller coaster would be located in Central Florida along International Drive at the intersection with Sand Lake Road. In May 2014, investment for the project was sought, and a website was formed to assist with the endeavor. After several successful negotiations for land, development of both the roller coaster and Skyplex began. In 2012, Wallack Holdings, owners of Mango's Tropical Café in Orlando, selected the Polercoaster design concept pitched by US Thrill Rides to become their flagship attraction at the future-planned Skyplex indoor entertainment complex. If it were to be completed, Skyscraper would become the tallest roller coaster in the world at over 500 feet (150 m) and would feature both the steepest drop and highest inversion. The status of the project became uncertain in 2019, following the removal of the project's website and lack of updates from developers. Developers expected to complete the work by 2016, but a number of delays resulted in the date being pushed back several times. Development began in 2012 by American manufacturer US Thrill Rides and Swiss manufacturer Intamin, with both companies designing the attraction as the first Polercoaster model utilizing an observation tower for its main support structure. Skyscraper is a roller coaster concept originally planned for a future Skyplex entertainment complex located in Orlando, Florida. Riders are arranged 4 across in 2 rows for a total of 8 riders per train. Though no longer the tallest building in the world, the Tower is still title to the world's highest occupiable floor and the highest roof deck, and an elevator ride. The Sears attracts some 1.5 million tourists each year, despite the loss of its title to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in 1997. The Tower is fronted by a separate tourist entrance, the Skydeck Pavilion added in 1985 by Skidmore Owings and Merrill. Above the fiftieth floor, some squares dropped away as the tower rose to create smaller floor plates and a distinctive stepped silhouette. At 1454 feet, its height surpassed the World Trade Center by 100 feet and was, according to Sears "as tall as the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) will let us go." For more than twenty years after its completion in 1974, Sears Tower remained the tallest skyscraper, and it is still the largest.Īs designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Khan of the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), the structure was a "bundled tube" system of nine squares with sides of 75 feet (for an overall 225 x 225 ft), sheathed in a curtain wall of dark tinted glass. The building slowly stretched to 4.5 million ft2 and 110 stories, and in July 1970, Sears trumpeted its plans for the world's tallest building. The first designs were for a boxy structure exclusively for Sears, but the architects and real estate advisors pressed for a taller tower with upper floors for tenants. The company determined it needed 3 million ft2 of office space with floors of 50,000 ft2 to accommodate its 13,000 employees in their major departments. In the late 1960s, Sears Roebuck and Company, then the world's largest retailer with $8.9 billion in sales, decided to consolidate its administrative operations in downtown Chicago.
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