The tallest building in Southeast Asia and the second tallest building in the world, the Merdeka 118 tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be completed by mid-2023, according to developer PNB Merdeka Ventures. Merdeka Ventures CEO Ab Aziz Tengku Mahmud said construction of the tower is 92% complete, noting that “Merdeka” means independence, while 118 represents the number of floors in the building. Merdeka 118 is 678.9 meters tall, taking the title of the tallest building in Southeast Asia from the 461.2-meter-high Landmark 81 in Ho Chi Minh City. The third is now the Petronas Twin Towers, also in Kuala Lumpur…
The tallest building in Southeast Asia and the second tallest building in the world, the Merdeka 118 tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be completed by mid-2023, according to developer PNB Merdeka Ventures.
Merdeka Ventures CEO Ab Aziz Tengku Mahmud said construction of the tower is 92% complete, noting that “Merdeka” means independence, while 118 represents the number of floors in the building.
Merdeka 118 is 678.9 meters tall, taking the title of the tallest building in Southeast Asia from the 461.2-meter-high Landmark 81 in Ho Chi Minh City. The third is the Petronas Twin Towers, now located in Kuala Lumpur, with a height of 451.9 meters.
The first Park Hyatt hotel in Malaysia
The building will have a floor area of approximately 288,000 square meters, including approximately 158,000 square meters of leasable office space. The highest 17 floors will house the Park Hyatt.
The Park Hyatt will be the tallest hotel in Kuala Lumpur and the luxury brand’s first hotel in Malaysia, with 252 rooms and the tallest dining spot in the tower.
“The offices can move in first, while the hotel will be ready by the third quarter of next year,” Mahmoud said.
Offices for local and international companies
PNB Merdeka Ventures, a subsidiary of Malaysian state-owned investment firm Permodalan Nasional, aims to lease 70% of local companies and 30% of multinational companies.
Of course, the must-see attraction of Merdeka 118 Tower will be the 116-story mezzanine, where the highest observation deck in Southeast Asia is located at 566 meters from the spire.
In February 2016, then-Prime Minister Najib Razak launched the pioneering work on the construction of the freestanding Route 118, which will cost about 5 billion ringgit ($1.12 billion). Merdeka 118 will officially become the tallest building in Malaysia in early June 2021 when the final roof slabs are completed and the summit of the 118th floor is safely reached.
