200 Skyscrapers Planned for Moscow

The $10-billion "Moskva-City" complex of offices, hotels, apartments, restaurants, shops and entertainment centers will have about 25 high-rises, including at least seven buildings taller than any others now existing in Europe. Dominating the site will be the 2,008-foot-tall Russia Tower, which will be one of the tallest buildings in the world and is due for completion in 2012. Most of the rest of the center is to open in 2009 and 2010. The Empire State Building, by comparison, is 1,454 feet tall, including its lightning rod. Capital officials have been working on the Moskva-City project since 1990, but few others took it seriously until the turn of the century. Now, fueled by an oil-based boom in Russia's economy, the 148-acre site is a place of frenzied construction.