Saudis reach for the sky

Dubai's superlative-loving rulers are on notice: Saudi Arabia seems to be getting serious about stealing your crowning glory.

State-linked development companies in the port of Jiddah have agreed to pony up the money for a skyscraper flirting with the unprecedented one-kilometer mark.

That's about 3,280 feet. Or about 550 feet taller than the current record spire, Dubai's Burj Khalifa. Or more than three times as tall as Philadelphia's 974-foot Comcast Center.

The planned Jiddah Tower is a monumental undertaking that had something of a pie-in-the-sky aura when it was first rumored last decade.

But it looks as if Saudi Arabia could make good on its blueprints. Two major state development arms announced this week a $1.2 billion financing deal to fund the 200-story tower and surrounding developments. Plans call for the building to be completed in 2020.

Already, 26 stories are built. An observation terrace is planned on Floor No. 157 of the tower, shaped like a gleaming shard.

More startling than the size is the timing. Saudi Arabia is in an oil slump. Add to that the costly Saudi-led war in Yemen against anti-Saudi rebels.

The project is something of a statement piece for King Salman, who will mark his first year in charge in January. No doubt the nearly 80-year-old hopes to be around for a ribbon-cutting.

If it happens, the tallest-skyscraper bragging rights would shift to its fifth country in a little more than a generation.

The Burj Khalifa took the title in 2010 from Taiwan's 1,670-foot Taipei 101 tower.