How did Houston end up with so many skyscrapers? (Dallas: 2014, vs)

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by BCLRRE

Lol, no way...Philly, Boston, Portland, San Diego do not have more high rises than Houston, that's laughable. I've been to all of those cities. NY has the most of all cities by farrrrrrrr, of course...but NY is in a class of its own. Downtown LA and Downtown Houston look about the same. Downtown Chicago has more than LA and Houston. But Houston has several skyline districts far beyond its downtown, that most cities except for NY, Chicago and maybe Miami, can't touch. And the way Downtown Houston is filling in, within about 5years there won't be a vacant lot left that's not developed or tagged for development.

You beat me to it. Houston does seem to have more buildings in downtown than philly and some of the other cities listed.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

You beat me to it. Houston does seem to have more buildings in downtown than philly and some of the other cities listed.

The city, yes; downtown no

[BCLRRE]

Houston is unique, in that it has skyscapers and high rises throughout the city. Downtown, Uptown/Galleria, TMC, Greenway Plaza, The Energy Corridor. Even Greenspoint and The Woodlands have towers of 30+ floors. Only LA and Atlanta have similar layouts. All the others have all their high rises and skyscapers concentrated in their downtowns (Philly, Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, etc). Houston has several skylines throughout.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by the topper

The city, yes; downtown no

Downtown Houston has a lot of high rises. It's not that much different than Philly or LA in that regard. With the addition of two new buildings the skyline looks more urban. I find it's growing into a mini Chicago in some regards, obviously the latter has a lot more history of development.

[BCLRRE]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Downtown Houston has a lot of high rises. It's not that much different than Philly or LA in that regard. With the addition of two new buildings the skyline looks more urban. I find it's growing into a mini Chicago in some regards, obviously the latter has a lot more history of development.

To put this aspect of the thread into context, you have to imagine or consider the skyscapers and highrises of Downtown Houston, Uptown/Galleria, The Energy Corridor, The Woodlands, Greenway Plaza, TMC, etc., grouped altogether. And because all of Houston's business districts continue to fill in and add more highrises and skyscrapers, it will only make Houston's unique layout that much more dynamic and distinct.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by BCLRRE

To put this aspect of the thread into context, you have to imagine or consider the skyscapers and highrises of Downtown Houston, Uptown/Galleria, The Energy Corridor, The Woodlands, Greenway Plaza, TMC, etc., grouped altogether. And because all of Houston's business districts continue to fill in and add more highrises and skyscrapers, it will only make Houston's unique layout that much more dynamic and distinct.

Spot on. Yes all those grouped together make for a near Manhattan look. But even so I still think downtown Houston has enough buildings to make it stand out on its own too.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Downtown Houston has a lot of high rises. It's not that much different than Philly or LA in that regard. With the addition of two new buildings the skyline looks more urban. I find it's growing into a mini Chicago in some regards, obviously the latter has a lot more history of development.

They tore down some of the old towers recently downtown. Philly is so much denser and has way more high rises than Downtown Houston. L.A.'s downtown is a high rise construction zone, thanks to Chinese and recent discovery of a livable downtown that prompt lots of developers flooding downtown to build towers to meet HUGE population that want to live downtown. 4 million people are living in L.A. and a whole lot of them saying, " I want to move downtown!" They're building and will be building hundreds of new high rises downtown in just 10 years. L.A has gone from sprawl to vertical and in the process of doing so like a switch. This is not happening in Houston where everyone says, "let's move downtown". It has been a limited boom of 8 new high rises residential in Dt. Houston which is coming to a close early next year due to construction fee incentives. It'll be it for some time.

[radiolibre99]

I just think downtown Houston isn't desirable for most people to live in. It's the least expensive urban hot spot in the inner loop. It does need revitalization but just in terms of buildings, I think you're underestimating it. It looks like a decent sized major city's downtown.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

I just think downtown Houston isn't desirable for most people to live in. It's the least expensive urban hot spot in the inner loop. It does need revitalization but just in terms of buildings, I think you're underestimating it. It looks like a decent sized major city's downtown.

I carefully examined this downtown by walking: Louisiana, Smith, Main, Commerce and Market Sq. I walk through the whole downtown area by Discovery Park, Convention/arena and ballpark. I was also in Edo(East Downtown). I saw the failed Houston Pavilions that part of it been converted to offices. It's bookstore long shuttered. I basically counted all the towers downtown for fun. It just came up short compared to other downtowns I mentioned before. It's not dense. It also lacks mid rises, too. The whole old section of Downtown L.A. has almost as many high rises as Downtown Houston with a bunch old 10 to 25 story buildings. I'm talking about the area around Broadway and Spring in Dt. L.A.. Dt L.A. is so much more dense and bigger than Houston's. Look at Downtown Portland: it's very dense and has a lot of high rises, although it doesn't look as impressive from a vantage point but it's dense. Don't get me started with Downtown Seattle since it has so many towers and old towers. It's very dense and packed.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by the topper

I carefully examined this downtown by walking: Louisiana, Smith, Main, Commerce and Market Sq. I walk through the whole downtown area by Discovery Park, Convention/arena and ballpark. I was also in Edo(East Downtown). I saw the failed Houston Pavilions that part of it been converted to offices. It's bookstore long shuttered. I basically counted all the towers downtown for fun. It just came up short compared to other downtowns I mentioned before. It's not dense. It also lacks mid rises, too. The whole old section of Downtown L.A. has almost as many high rises as Downtown Houston with a bunch old 10 to 25 story buildings. I'm talking about the area around Broadway and Spring in Dt. L.A.. Dt L.A. is so much more dense and bigger than Houston's. Look at Downtown Portland: it's very dense and has a lot of high rises, although it doesn't look as impressive from a vantage point but it's dense. Don't get me started with Downtown Seattle since it has so many towers and old towers. It's very dense and packed.

Is it just density you're talking about because Houston is not known for density. It's a sprawling city but at the same time, I just made it to Houston from Austin today and there was a night and day difference. Austin's downtown is more dense and looks like Portland's a bit, but outside of that there is a ton of space. Houston, while sprawling, seems massive in terms of overall sprawl and size of the surrounding buildings and big box store along the huge freeways.

So it's not the density that I am looking at. It's just the size of the city itself. Uptown for one dwarf's Austin inner core. Downtown just hasn't been able to pick up steam quite like Uptown because it's not desirable but it's still urban to me. To me urban doesn't necessarily mean dense and packed. I think of development and Houston develops wide with parking lots and lots of space in between buildings.