In China, a huge market complex is inspired and named after the famous The Pentagon in the United States, and it spans 70 acres, reports BBC.
For the uninitiated, The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. With 17.5 miles of corridors and a floor area of 6.6 million square feet, it is a military complex like none other!
Back to the Chinese version: Built in 2009, it incurred an estimated cost of $200 million and was designed in such a way that the whole market can be traveled quickly on foot. It is also equipped with large conference rooms and presentation areas including a regional logistics centre for UNICEF.
Curiously, despite its massive structure and myriad facilities, the shopping complex hardly gets footfall. The number of visitors is really low, earning the building the dubious title of “the largest vacant building in Shanghai”.
Here is a video:
According to People’s Daily News, the major reason why the complex remains virtually empty to this day is “mainly because of its location and confusing inner structures”.
Hardly a person can be spotted pushing a shopping cart in small sections of the shopping mall. The canned foods and packaged goods remains untouched on the shelves as if they are kept inside a museum or in an exhibition.