Saturday, 9 June 2007

A Relic From An Ancient Past



As long as I can recall, the partially-constructed apartment complex pictured above has remained idle. According to its sign, "Pozcu Plaza" was going to be the 'residence of the year 2000'.

"Pozcu Plaza" was highly likely one of the countless victims of Turkey's dual economic collapses in 1999 and 2001. In these years many construction projects came to a standstill or stopped completely as their owners became bankrupt, ran out of money or both. Not visible in the photo above is a crane stuck on the roof, evidence that the development came to a halt suddenly.

Located on prime real estate overlooking the Mersin coastline, the development is crying out to be completed or demolished. However, both of these options are very expensive and only government intervention or a huge rise in land prices will lead to "Pozcu Plaza" regaining face.

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22:06    

Comments:


Hey, great, this reminds me of Ballard stories. Surprisingly inspiring...



 
This buildings construction stopped way way before the 2001 crises. I used to live in the apt right in front of it. There is only a few feet separation between the two! AFAICR they didn't have a building permit to go so high, and had to stop, or bribe the local officials more. You can still see the date of the permit on the sign 28-2-1992. I think there were more influential people at that time in our building and in the next apt over to kill it. Activity stopped like within a year or two.

    # posted by Anonymous Acılı Birbuçuk at 12 April, 2009 05:35


 
Thanks Acili for your insightful comments. Local council planning laws are indeed enforced haphazardly in Mersin (and Turkey in general).

I remember when the council, early morning, demolished the tea houses and other buildings along Mersin's coastline as they were too close to the sea. Funnily enough, they didn't demolish the Hilton Hotel or Mersin Tennis Club which were also closer than allowed by law.

    # posted by Anonymous Joe at 12 April, 2009 20:33


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