Fort Worth is growing with low rise development, but what about high rise development. (Dallas: estate, car)

[naterator]

Exxon may have bought them - but they willingly sold out.

[RayStokes]

Originally Posted by RMFW

Until the many city block-sized parking lots are developed into anything at all then there's little reason to be all that concerned about a signature skyscraper that impresses drivers on the freeway.

It's also worth remembering the vast majority of central Paris is only about seven stories tall.

This. + rep.

I get that skyscrapers are a big thing on this forum, but they aren't necessary for a great urban experience. So many world class cities, much larger and more urban than anywhere in Texas, are full of low and mid rise developments. Nobody thinks of enormous skylines and skyscrapers when they think of London, Paris, or Washington, D.C. Even most of Dallas's developments over the past decade and a half have been low and mid rises around Uptown and look at how much that has improved their city's urban core.

I'd much rather see Fort Worth fill out rather than just have a couple of shiny new towers surrounded by empty parking lots and fields for the sake of being tall and flashy. That is not what this city is at all. Fort Worth may be the 16th largest city in the US, but these 750,000 people are spread out all over the place and we have an extremely low population density for such a big city. I'd rather Fort Worth continue their focus on cleaning up and revitalizing old decaying neighborhoods inside the loop rather than trophy buildings. When the time is right for a high rise, developers will invest accordingly.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by RayStokes

This. + rep.

I get that skyscrapers are a big thing on this forum, but they aren't necessary for a great urban experience. So many world class cities, much larger and more urban than anywhere in Texas, are full of low and mid rise developments. Nobody thinks of enormous skylines and skyscrapers when they think of London, Paris, or Washington, D.C. Even most of Dallas's developments over the past decade and a half have been low and mid rises around Uptown and look at how much that has improved their city's urban core.

I'd much rather see Fort Worth fill out rather than just have a couple of shiny new towers surrounded by empty parking lots and fields for the sake of being tall and flashy.

You CAN have skyscrapers that are pedestrian friendly, you know...

[RMFW]

Originally Posted by JJG

You CAN have skyscrapers that are pedestrian friendly, you know...

Never said you couldn't and as a matter of fact I would love to see a few more in Fort Worth. But there are too many people out there that 1) seem to be obsessed with getting more "signature" skyscrapers regardless of the context, need, or market, 2) take skyscrapers to be the measure of a city and 3) fail to recognize that you can in fact build a beautiful city that is predominantly midrise in scale. Even in the example I included earlier (Paris) you have an example of some great skyscrapers that are well integrated into that gorgeous seven-story city (the Eiffel Tower, La Defense, etc.) as well as a few examples of just how terrible things can get when you become overly driven by an obsession to prove just how much of a modern city you are by building a skyscraper (Montparnasse).

[Texan1010]

Originally Posted by rogramjet

I live in a condo across from Lady Bird Lake near downtown. For many of my neighbors, their condo is a second home. Austin is a place for them to have fun. My understanding is that many of the new condos in downtown Austin have been purchased as second homes or vacation homes. Funny, I moved to Austin right before the big condo boom that resulted in all the tall buildings here. Before that, Austin's skyline was pusillanimous. I never heard anyone complain about the skyline then. Residents here seem to be always sunny about their city. It's contagious. I think Austin's "upbeatness" is partly why so many want to live here. It makes me wonder why residents of Fort Worth are so sour on their city. You folks never seem to appreciate the truly beautiful city you have up there (at least as evidenced by the posters on this forum). You seem to always be comparing it to other cities, like Dallas, inaccurately in my opinion, and declaring the measure short (no pun intended). Tall buildings will come to Fort Worth when the demand is there. So step it up and create some demand for a change...!

Sure Austin has a nice skyline now, but most of those residential buildings that are in Austin have people who are from out of state (where the cost of living is usually high and therefore these people get bigger paychecks, I am referring to people from California, and the NE, or any other expensive states) the people who lived in Austin are now complaining about high prices, and please do not argue claiming that this isn't true, there are plenty of articles which would prove you wrong if you oppose my statement. Another thing is that Austin is officially one of the most overrated cities in the USA (on some list Austin gets first place), Austin has attracted lots of hipsters and this may be my opinion but cities that have a lot of hipsters tend to be way too overrated because these people over exaggerate every little detail of their city and they sometimes go to the extent to where these little details are no longer true (not sure if your a "hipster" but if you are I just proved my point). For all the time that I have lived in Fort Worth i have never heard a single person say that they hate Fort Worth, well actually I will admit that in the forums you will see some "sour" attitudes towards the city "lacking" development but that is completely inaccurate, the city of FW is getting lots of developments but the thing about this city is that it likes to spread out, out, out, out, out and eventually they city will start building up. That being said, since Fort Worth spreads its developments around the city this usually eliminates the need for a high rise development.

One more thing is that Austin is basically being overrun by people who fled states that have a highercost of living and now since they moved to Texas (cheap) there is a surplus of money for anyone who moves, these people will slowly make Texas into the golden state (Texas will be a superb state but after Texas gets transformed by these out of state people, this State will be the next California (starts of good, improves, then boom, bye bye Texas, next state to get infested is..... (fill in blank)

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by Texan1010

Sure Austin has a nice skyline now, but most of those residential buildings that are in Austin have people who are from out of state (where the cost of living is usually high and therefore these people get bigger paychecks, I am referring to people from California, and the NE, or any other expensive states) the people who lived in Austin are now complaining about high prices, and please do not argue claiming that this isn't true, there are plenty of articles which would prove you wrong if you oppose my statement. Another thing is that Austin is officially one of the most overrated cities in the USA (on some list Austin gets first place), Austin has attracted lots of hipsters and this may be my opinion but cities that have a lot of hipsters tend to be way too overrated because these people over exaggerate every little detail of their city and they sometimes go to the extent to where these little details are no longer true (not sure if your a "hipster" but if you are I just proved my point). For all the time that I have lived in Fort Worth i have never heard a single person say that they hate Fort Worth, well actually I will admit that in the forums you will see some "sour" attitudes towards the city "lacking" development but that is completely inaccurate, the city of FW is getting lots of developments but the thing about this city is that it likes to spread out, out, out, out, out and eventually they city will start building up. That being said, since Fort Worth spreads its developments around the city this usually eliminates the need for a high rise development.

One more thing is that Austin is basically being overrun by people who fled states that have a highercost of living and now since they moved to Texas (cheap) there is a surplus of money for anyone who moves, these people will slowly make Texas into the golden state (Texas will be a superb state but after Texas gets transformed by these out of state people, this State will be the next California (starts of good, improves, then boom, bye bye Texas, next state to get infested is..... (fill in blank)

Actually, the vast majority of the people moving to Austin are from other Texas cities. Austin is being overrun by people from Houston, DFW, and San Antonio. Go figure.

[Texan1010]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

Actually, the vast majority of the people moving to Austin are from other Texas cities. Austin is being overrun by people from Houston, DFW, and San Antonio. Go figure.

Weird, whenever I go to the Austin forums, I ALWAYS see post from people who are from out of state wanting to move to Austin (these people are usually from liberal/corrupt states)

And why in the world would Houstonians and Dallasites want to move to an overrated city that has less developments then their cities (Houston and Dallas still beat Austin in new developments)

go figure...

[Spade]

Originally Posted by RMFW

The building up will happen and will happen relatively soon (by the end of the decade or five or so years after that), but it's worth considering also that Downtown Dallas hasn't had any new skyscrapers built since the late 80s (due to the S&L crisis) and vacancy rights are still very high for the downtown office buildings (downtown Fort Worth has some of the lowest vacancy rates in the state). The only recent skyscrapers Dallas has had have been condos in uptown. Fort Worth is striking on some really good infill and midrise opportunities now, but more high rise will be coming (already is if you consider the new 29 story Trinity Terrace building) and will definitely end up being a part of the Trinity River Vision's Panther Island.

If you're talking about office buildings, you're correct. If you're talking about residential, I think Downtown Dallas has actually built a few skyscrapers since the 80s. Museum Tower is one of them. Downtown is still dominated by the 80s Towers. But there have been some midrises and high rises built over the past few years in downtown.

[RMFW]

Originally Posted by Spade

If you're talking about office buildings, you're correct. If you're talking about residential, I think Downtown Dallas has actually built a few skyscrapers since the 80s. Museum Tower is one of them. Downtown is still dominated by the 80s Towers. But there have been some midrises and high rises built over the past few years in downtown.

eh... that's still more Uptown/Arts District/Victory than it is downtown proper. Even most of Uptown has been midrise and the development you're seeing on the west end is more midrise as well. Don't get me wrong, dallas is getting some pretty nice projects (boy would I love for the federal reserve and all of the major banks/commercial real estate corporations to be in Fort Worth rather than Dallas or, at the very least, get out that way from time to time... which, from what I've heard from people in those industries, is such a rare occurence that it has become a bit of an inside joke - not for a lack of business opportunities in Fort Worth, but for the sheer reluctance to get in a car and make the drive all the way out there).

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by Texan1010

Weird, whenever I go to the Austin forums, I ALWAYS see post from people who are from out of state wanting to move to Austin (these people are usually from liberal/corrupt states)

And why in the world would Houstonians and Dallasites want to move to an overrated city that has less developments then their cities (Houston and Dallas still beat Austin in new developments)

go figure...

Well, whether you like it or now, they move here by the tens of thousands and data shows this. They prefer it to Houston or Dallas for whatever reason. Ask them.