Universal has picked up Mike Sobel's disaster-action pitch Skyscraper, with Neal Moritz set to produce via his Original Film banner.

According to Variety, the project is described as a modern-day The Towering Inferno, in which a Donald Trump-esque developer sets out to build a mile-high structure in Chicago. When the tower starts to falter, a crew must rescue the city from mayhem.

Sobel, a former New York criminal lawyer, moved to Los Angeles 18 months ago to pursue a writing career. His first screenplay, also a disaster project, titled Animals, sold to Columbia for mid-six figures. Moritz is producing Animals as well.

No production date has been set.