Enormous Shanghai shopping mall is now China's largest empty building

A giant shopping mall in China designed as a replica of the Pentagon has been left virtually abandoned because the space is too expensive and too confusing.

The $200 million Shanghai Pentagonal Mart, built in 2009, is bigger than the Virginia headquarters of the U.S. Defense Department, sprawling across over 70 acres.

But according to the BBC, it’s reportedly the largest vacant building in Shanghai and despite the demand for retail space, has sky-high rent.

At the time it was opened, the space was heralded for being a shopping meca with the potential to attract hundreds of thousands of shoppers a day. Owners Shanghai Megamall said they had signed thousands of tenants, including a number of Western brands.

But most are gone and shopkeepers say its interior is like a labyrinth, reports the People's Daily News. Only a small portion of its stores have been leased out, mainly on the outer ring, while the interior is virtually abandoned.

Yet, there may be one idea for the space that has local officials wishing upon a star.

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