Developer plans D.C. tower of peace

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A well-known developer says he will buy his own land to build a 12-story monument to peace and freedom if he can't build it on the Washington Mall.

"I think it should be built now," said Jeffrey Abramson, who has been rebuffed by the federal government in an attempt to build his "Tower of Invincibility" on the Mall, home to the Washington Monument and Abraham Lincoln's memorial.

Abramson, a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, would prefer the Mall, but says, "Wherever it lands, it will be perfect," he told The Washington Post in a story published Saturday.

If necessary, property will be bought and razed, said Abramson, whose family-owned Tower Cos. built the White Flint Mall and the Washington Square office complex. Tower Cos. this month is to receive the Washington, D.C., Chamber of Commerce "Business of the Year" award.

Abramson said the idea for the $10 million tower came from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru of Transcendental Meditation. Plans for similar towers are underway in New Zealand, Germany and Canada, the Post reported.