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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Do you feel that many major North American cities are no longer the hubs of employment and perhaps will be transtioning into more residential infrastructure in the future? In some cities this is already happening rapidly. Model cities would be Vancouver, BC and Miami as the majority of their skylines infrastructure are residential condo/apartment towers. A primary example of employment shifting away from downtown to outskirting areas would be Denver as most of it's skyscrapers were built in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, yet take a drive down I-25 south of the city and there is a long corridor of mid-rise office park settings like the DTC. This seems to be happening in a lot of other places like Dallas and perhaps even companies moving from Lower Manhattan to New Jersey. These are things I have picked up on in these threads. What do you think?
I agree. I mean very common in Florida Skylines to have more residential then business. I honestly don't think it is a Transition because you have to take into consideration that they just want to make downtown areas "Pedestrian Friendly" and all other sorts.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,055,953 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caphillsea77
Do you feel that many major North American cities are no longer the hubs of employment and perhaps will be transtioning into more residential infrastructure in the future? In some cities this is already happening rapidly. Model cities would be Vancouver, BC and Miami as the majority of their skylines infrastructure are residential condo/apartment towers. A primary example of employment shifting away from downtown to outskirting areas would be Denver as most of it's skyscrapers were built in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, yet take a drive down I-25 south of the city and there is a long corridor of mid-rise office park settings like the DTC. This seems to be happening in a lot of other places like Dallas and perhaps even companies moving from Lower Manhattan to New Jersey. These are things I have picked up on in these threads. What do you think?
Austin, Texas.
I can't say about Houston, because I think it's balancing (trying to balance) residential with business buildings in it's downtown now. I don't think it's going for a predominant residential core, but it's trying to balance it. An eye for an eye. The number of residents in downtown Houston has been increasing very fast.
Austin on the other hand has been buildings large residential towers in downtown. And I think Chicago is near balance on this with business buildings and residential towers (has a lot already and is building some supertalls like Waterview for residential).
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I think Miami and Vancouver started the modern residential highrise trend as in Miami people want urban life simoteniously live on the waters edge. In Vancouver people want mountain views from their high rise condos. Yes, Austin certainly has had one of North America's largerst residential downtown skyscraper booms. I hear Dallas is struggling to fill vacant downtown office space and converting some office buildings into residential architecture. I wonder if downtown Dallas can grow as I heard nearby developments like Victory Park have not been that successful due to cost of living. This could be a problem in any city. It already is in Miami. High rise living is expensive, anywhere!
I think Miami and Vancouver started the modern residential highrise trend as in Miami people want urban life simoteniously live on the waters edge. In Vancouver people want mountain views from their high rise condos. Yes, Austin certainly has had one of North America's largerst residential downtown skyscraper booms. I hear Dallas is struggling to fill vacant downtown office space and converting some office buildings into residential architecture. I wonder if downtown Dallas can grow as I heard nearby developments like Victory Park have not been that successful due to cost of living. This could be a problem in any city. It already is in Miami. High rise living is expensive, anywhere!
they did? I could have sworn it was nyc/chicago/philly... considering Chicago had the tallest residential towers in the world at the time (65 stories) back in 1964...and a 100 story residential in 1968... etc etc etc...
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,754 posts, read 23,832,257 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grapico
they did? I could have sworn it was nyc/chicago/philly... considering Chicago had the tallest residential towers in the world at the time (65 stories) back in 1964...and a 100 story residential in 1968... etc etc etc...
To counterpoint, NYC/Chicago/Philly have strong downtown financial/employment districts. They did back in the 60's and they still do today. Cities like Vancouver and Miami have dominantly residential highrises in their downtown cores, with modern glass towers.
Residential living in the city centre of CLEVELAND has "EXPLODED" with the mass redevelopment of former office towers into LUXURY LOFTS, CONDOS and UPSCALE APTS. There has also been an influx of sparkling new residential construction in the city core. Cleveland has gained "the second most residentially populated downtown in the midwest" ... second only to Chicago.
Here are some of the new developments ...
To counterpoint, NYC/Chicago/Philly have strong downtown financial/employment districts. They did back in the 60's and they still do today. Cities like Vancouver and Miami have dominantly residential highrises in their downtown cores, with modern glass towers.
they have these too, most of the stuff you see on the lakefront is residential.
see the line going down the lake? that is about 8 miles of residential highrises...
some modern "glassy"chicago residential in the last 2-3 years.
http://highriseconstruction.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/trump-tower-chicago.jpg (broken link)
I think those are all more impressive than anything going up in Vancouver or Miami but...just one guys opinion I suppose...
miami and vancouver both seem pretty cookie cutter and definitely shorter in comparison.
I can't say about Houston, because I think it's balancing (trying to balance) residential with business buildings in it's downtown now. I don't think it's going for a predominant residential core, but it's trying to balance it. An eye for an eye. The number of residents in downtown Houston has been increasing very fast.
I would rather build out the residential area in Midtown as brownstone townhomes lining Milam, Travis, Smith, and Louisiana. This is the vital link between Downtown and the Museum District/Medical Center to make the ground level cityscape as one continuous, contiguous visually appealing stretch like the Northside of Chicago or the Westside of L.A.
Residential living in the city centre of CLEVELAND has "EXPLODED" with the mass redevelopment of former office towers into LUXURY LOFTS, CONDOS and UPSCALE APTS. There has also been an influx of sparkling new residential construction in the city core. Cleveland has gained "the second most residentially populated downtown in the midwest" ... second only to Chicago.
Here are some of the new developments ...
As much as I like Cleveland, I think you are laying it on a bit thick here. Yes, there have defiantly been some nice projects downtown but it has hardly "exploded." Also, many of Cleveland's projects have been rehabs of existing buildings, which has improved things but does not necessarily changed the look of downtown much. I hope it does explode though. I would love to see the Warehouse District filled in and some more residential development around CSU - both of which are planned.
I'm pretty certain Minneapolis has the second most downtown developement in the Midwest. Cleveland may be in fact 3rd though.
Personally I have been impressed with the newer downtown residential development I have seen in Chicago, New York, Miami, San Diego, and Portland the most.
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