A seemingly death-defying photo from atop the Wilshire Grand Center’s spire — 1,099 feet above the ground in downtown Los Angeles — has gained attention across the country.
The iron workers who installed the spire posed atop it in the photo.
The addition was completed Sept. 3, ensuring the building’s landmark status.
“Saturday’s completion of the 294-foot, 9-inch spire marks a milestone achievement in the construction of the Wilshire Grand tower — now officially the tallest building west of the Mississippi,” said project spokeswoman Leigh Kramer.
But how did those men get all the way up there?
They climbed an internal maintenance ladder all the way to the top and were harnessed to the inside and outside of the structure, Kramer said.
A crane lifted the final piece of the spire into place, as well as the building’s beacon.
The 73-story tower — a $1 billion project that includes a 900-room hotel, restaurants, retail and office space — is expected to open in March 2017. Construction began in February 2014.
The building has created 122,000 new jobs in L.A., Mayor Eric Garcetti said in statement from developer over the weekend.
The building is the first in decades to be free of city requirements that high-rises including a helicopter landing pad, forcing a boxy roof, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Today the Wilshire Grand offers a preview of what a more liberated skyline in the city might look like,” the newspaper stated.