City Highrise Living: CHICAGO vs Philly & Boston (cost, bigger, downtown)

[Summersm343]

I agree... I don't think you will be able to see One World Trade from the top of Comcast... but you can see the Philly Skyline from the Lehigh Valley...

[tmac9wr]

Originally Posted by Summersm343

No one is arguing... Chicago is OBVIOUSLY the clear winner lol. We we're just showing some of Philly off =). In my opinion... Philly beats Boston in residential highrise, but Chicago KICKS THE HELL out of Philly and Boston combined.

In fact... we would probably have to add Miami to the mix to even come close to Chicago...

I honestly think Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, San Francisco, and Los Angeles combined wouldn't come close to Chicago for residential highrises.

[Summersm343]

Originally Posted by tmac9wr

I honestly think Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, San Francisco, and Los Angeles combined wouldn't come close to Chicago for residential highrises.

Probs

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by tmac9wr

I honestly think Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, San Francisco, and Los Angeles combined wouldn't come close to Chicago for residential highrises.

I agree, Chicago is major league. Boston and Philly are minor league in this respect

[grapico]

Originally Posted by jm02

Take it up with the person who is saying they do. Let's see - that's who, exactly?

It was a rhetorical question. I like all 3 cities.

[MiamiRob]

Chicago wins that hands down but I think Miami would rank 3rd. after NYC & Chicago in terms of residential highrise living in the US.

[urbanologist]

Since Philly is a much older city I never understood why it hasn't built as many highrises as Chicago in the last century. Was there a city ordinance or people being against it back in the day? Would the location of the airport being close have anything to do with it?

I'm happy to see the city finally building a lot of residential highrises. I use to live in one and am a big fan of highrise living. The experience I had was great.

[MiamiRob]

Originally Posted by urbanologist

Since Philly is a much older city I never understood why it hasn't built as many highrises as Chicago in the last century. Was there a city ordinance or people being against it back in the day? Would the location of the airport being close have anything to do with it?

I'm happy to see the city finally building a lot of residential highrises. I use to live in one and am a big fan of highrise living. The experience I had was great.

To answer your question about Philly there was a gentleman's agreement that lasted until the mid 1980's that no building could be built taller that the William Penn statue that sits atop city hall. Philly is a very dense city but it never started to build tall until the late 80's I believe.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

To answer your question about Philly there was a gentleman's agreement that lasted until the mid 1980's that no building could be built taller that the William Penn statue that sits atop city hall. Philly is a very dense city but it never started to build tall until the late 80's I believe.

You're exactly right. Philadelphia and Boston are actually very similar in this regard in terms of being older cities that have always been more conservative with skyscraper/residential highrise construction. Mostly it has been a matter of maintaining the character of low-rise rowhouse neighborhoods. It's a delicate balance that I believe both cities have been very successful in maintaining in terms of keeping highrise construction in designed areas.

However, I think mentalities have definitely shifted as demand for living in cities has picked up dramatically over the past two decades. I expect to see much more high-rise construction in Boston and Philly in the years to come, if only because of pretty tight real estate (which is particularly true in Boston).

[urbanologist]

Interesting, I never knew about the 'gentlemen' agreement. I guess it kind like why Charleston,SC don't want a skyline higher than the church spires. I can imagine Philly could have had it's own version of a 100+ story Empire State Building today rivaling NYC.