(FORTUNE Magazine) – The skyscraper space race has a new competitor. The foundation has been laid for the Burj Dubai tower, a 2,300-foot-tall, five-million-square-foot spear tip, which upon completion in 2009 will jut from the desert sands of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Architecture firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) won't confirm the rumored 160-story height, but will say the luxury residence is going to be capped by an observation deck visible 50 miles away. The completed tower would dwarf the current record-holder, the 1,671-foot-high Taipei 101, and also overshadow another SOM project, New York City's proposed 1,776-foot Freedom Tower.

The building's developer, Emaar Properties, is so intent on nabbing the "world's tallest" crown that, should a competitor reach higher, Burj Dubai's upward-spiraling design, which is meant to echo the flower patterns found in traditional Islamic architecture, can be extended at the last minute. One British real estate agent pegs the project's budget at $2.7 billion--making this potentially one of the world's most expensive buildings, not just the tallest. -- Abrahm Lustgarten