Nouvel said in a letter he has not scrapped the project altogether but said the "real estate crisis is such that all current large-scale development projects are running behind. Investors who are financing these projects are not planning to build immediately." However in two or three years, the project could once again become attractive for investors.

Ceccaldi-Raynaud, also deputy mayor of Puteaux, where La Défense is situated, and a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, was informed by Nouvel that the emblematic tower, due to cost nearly $773.6 million, is no longer viable since the principle investor, the Spanish-based Medea group, has pulled out. The tower was originally announced in 2008 by Patrick Devedjian, then-president of EPAD (Etablissement public pour l'aménagement de La Défense). Ceccaldi-Raynaud said at the MIPIM trade fair in Cannes that the move comes as a surprise. "Perhaps his operating costs no longer permit this commitment," she said. EPAD Managing Director Philippe Chaix added that a delegation has visited Qatar and Kuweit in recent weeks to seek alternative financing but had no success.

Signal Tower, slated for completion in 2013 but not yet started, was seen as central to rejuvenating La Défense. Several others have also been put on hold due to the financial crisis – many of them due the absence of bank debt financing. A renewal plan drawn up last year envisages 4.8 million square feet of new office space and the reconstruction of some one million square feet of residential accommodation over the next five years. The globally-renowned Nouvel found fame with designs for the Paris Arab World Institute and the Quai Branly museum. EPAD is due to be merged soon with EPASA (Ètablissement public d'aménagement Seine-Arche), which manages the area to the west stretching over into the town of Nanterre. Ceccaldi-Raynaud said she will be a candidate for merged top post.