On April 21 billionaire Donald Trump will visit Georgia, told Silk Road Group representative during his interview to News-eorgia. The purpose of the visit is a presentation of Trump's Batumi new project. As we reported earlier, on March10th last year, during the visit of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to New York, the Trump Organization and the Georgian company Silk Road Group signed a protocol of intent to develop two Trump managed skyscrapers in Georgia, one in Batumi and another in Tbilisi. The start of construction is scheduled in 2013 and would be overseen by the Silk Road Group, one of the largest private investment companies in the region and the Trump Organization partner for the project. The deal, which the partners estimate about US$ 250-300 million, calls for two projects. The Trump Tower in Batumi would be a part of a planned by Silk Road complex that includes a casino, an exhibition hall and a marina. The residential buildings will each contain 100 apartments and rise nearly 40 stories - average by New York standards, but nearly twice the size of the republic's tallest structures.

Azrieli Group controlling shareholder David Azrieli laid the foundation stone on March 25 for the US$ 400 million Sarona Center, a single 200-meter, 50-story building in Tel Aviv's nascent southern Kirya business district, reported The Jerusalem Post. Azrieli Sarona will become Israel's largest office tower upon its scheduled completion in 2016, offering 125 thousand square meters of working space, a three-story, 11 thousand square meters mall and a seven-story underground parking lot for 1.6 thousand vehicles. It will be the country's second-tallest building, behind Ramat Gan's 244-meter, 68-story, multipurpose Moshe Aviv Tower. Azrieli Group purchased the land from the Israel Lands Authority for US$ 140 million last year. The building will be constructed at the eastern end of the Sarona compound near Menachem Begin Road and Kaplan Street, almost diagonally opposite the three existing Azrieli towers. Architect Moshe Zur teamed up with David Azrieli Architects Firm to design the building, using simple geometry to produce the effect that the entire building is facing the sea, which lies almost 3 kilometers to the west.

Venice has approved a 60-storey tower designed and funded by fashion designer Pierre Cardin, reported British online publication BDonline. It will be the centerpiece of a vast project to build a whole new suburb on reclaimed land north of the historic city. City governor Luca Zaia described the Palais Lumiere project as Venice's Eiffel Tower and likened Cardin to Lorenzo the Magnificent, Florence's great Medici patron. Cardin, who was born near Venice 89 years ago, described the scheme as the "pinnacle" of his career. The tower will be built in the former industrial area of Porto Marghera and will be at the heart of a 1.6 million square meter project that will clean up polluted brown field areas and reclaim further land from the lagoon. Cardin's striking design involves 3 separate fins joined at a number of levels by six horizontal discs accessed by lifts. Its height and diameter will both be 244 meters. Conceived as a gateway to Venice, it will be a hub for the creative industries including a fashion and design college, exhibition space and incubators for start-up businesses. Some reports said it would also contain a hotel, restaurants, indoor and outdoor pools, a cinema, roof gardens, a heliport and even a hospital. The wider development will include 35 thousand square meter of residential, 25 thousand square meter of hotels and restaurants, 115 thousand square meter of offices, 600 thousand square meter of landscaping, 100 thousand square meter of parking, plus new infrastructure. The city authorities this week gave Cardin permission to enter a simplified planning process.

The US$ 2.61 billion Hermitage Plaza Towers to be built in Paris La Defense business district have received planning permission and work on the site will start imminently, Emin Iskenderov, chief executive of development company Hermitage Group, said on March 9, during his interview to Wall Street Journal. Hermitage Group, a Paris-based private company with Russian origins, will start clearing the site for the two 320-meter-tall skyscrapers this month. The project will cost a total of US$ 2 billion, with US$ 916 million in bank debt arranged with four banks at a cost of 6.5 percent, and US$ 394 million of equity coming from Hermitage Group itself. The remaining US$ 1.3 billion will be financed through sales of apartments and offices. The Paris real-estate market, which was hit by the financial crisis in 2008, still hasn't recovered completely, and overall property prices remain below their 2007 peak. But Mr. Iskenderov is confident he can raise the US$ 1.3 billion portion needed through sales of apartments and offices as Hermitage Plaza will be La Defense's first building to offer mixed-use space. Hermitage Group will start selling the apartments in a year's time and expects a minimum price of US$ 15.7 thousand per square meter. Hermitage Plaza, designed by U.K.- based architects Foster and Partners, will provide 280 thousand square meters of mixed-use space, housing a five-star hotel, 543 apartments, 35 thousand square meters of offices and 50 thousand square meters of retail and restaurants. The Hermitage Towers will be 200 meters from La Defense's main transport links and will also provide 20 thousand square meters of public space.

The world's tallest communications tower has been completed in central Tokyo following nearly four years of construction, reported The Telegraph. Tokyo Sky Tree, which measures 634 meters in height, was finished two months behind schedule following delays caused by last year's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. However, operators of Tokyo Sky Tree, which will operate as a communications tower for the nation's broadcasting networks, hope the timely completion of the tower just before the first anniversary of the disaster will help boost the nation's tourism industry, which was been hit hard over the past year. The tower, located in Sumida block in the Asakusa district, is not only the loftiest communications tower ever built, it is also the world's second tallest building, eclipsed only by the 828 meters Burj Khalifa in Dubai. More than 580 thousand workers were involved in the construction of the US$ 800 million structure, which was inspired by traditional Japanese architect and painted a shade of blue-tinged white called "aojiro". Tokyo Sky Tree is set to become an iconic addition to the city's urban skyline, overshadowing other landmarks such as the 1958 red and white Tokyo Tower, which was previously used as the main broadcasting tower and long regarded a symbol of country's rapid post-war development. Now the tower has been completed, and the operator plans to finish the interior for stores and other facilities with an eye to opening them to the public on May 22.