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by g_mifo 4217 days ago
The spire is there so that the building is respectfully not taller than the old towers, but still can win the stupid "tallest building" guiness record. Typical play to vanity metrics.
1 comments

No I mean the fact that they neutered the spire. The original design called for a tapered spire. It ended up being built as simple antenna, seemingly with platforms every few stories. It looks unfinished. For a long time I was hoping it was simply unfinished. Turns out it was changed to save $20 million.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023045439045773...

There was an engineering issue with wind loading on the clad version of the spire so they left it off.