Cathedral Plaza

75-metre office tower in central Bucharest (completed 2010), never opened — reportedly still lacking valid building permits.

Cathedral Plaza is a 75-metre office tower in the historic centre of Bucharest, close to the Saint Joseph Cathedral. The 19-storey building was completed in 2010 but has never been occupied — allegedly because it still lacks valid planning permits. It stands as a silent colossus in the middle of the city core and is a much-discussed symbol of planning and regulatory failures in the Romanian property market. For urban observers and anyone interested in city development gone wrong, it is a remarkable, if unintentional, monument to Bucharest's post-communist urban history.