Sky Bloom - Downtown art piece by Janet Echelman (artist, flower)

[homlish560]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

also keep an eye if they build the american commerce center building in philadelphia ..... would go up in excess of 1,500 ft

they've done a lot of building there since i've moved out with the completion of at least 2 pretty decent sized buildings

There's also less growth in Philly than Phx., so it would only make sense to build more skyscrapers in Phx. as we keep growing.

They should keep 'em Downtown though. I can understand why some people don't want tall Buildings nearby mountains or parks!!!!!!!!

[Finger Laker]

wasn't meant as a comparison ..... but mainly as an FYI

philadelphia for a long time tried to keep heights low due to the old gentlemens agreement to not build a building taller than william penn on top of city hall ...... the liberty buildings were the first to break that .... now they have another round of building that is going up even higher

they definitely fit in within the city, which is pretty urban and dense

[fcorrales80]

I knew there were a couple of buildings I would miss! Finger Laker, the Space Needle wasn't about towering over Seattle, but about the comparison to buildings in Phoenix and the probability of a towering, tower with an observation deck in Phoenix. The Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, is less than a mile from the center of downtown Seattle. The entire length of the monorail, which connects Westlake Center (downtown) to the Seattle Center (just past the Space Needle) is exactly one mile, so very near the "core." I LOVE the Columbia Center in Seattle, the observation deck is on the 73rd floor of the 76 story, 936ft (???) building. I love the three arch design of the building. However, the Space Needle's view is a little better even though it is lower. The Seattle Center is built uphill from downtown Seattle, giving it much more height than just the structure itself. Hills in Seattle climb nearly 500ft. Like Queen Anne Hill, Volunteer Park, West Seattle, etc.

Downtown Philly, is if I remember correctly, the most densely populated center in the country, even surpassing Mid-town Manhattan and downtown Manhattan. It often surprised me that Philly wouldn't have a taller building because of this. But the City Hall regulation makes sense since a similar regulation is in place in D.C. concerning the Washington Monument.

I think the entire Civic Space Park looks awesome at night. However, concerning skyscrapers in Phoenix, it is pretty safe to say that a 1,000ft. tower would not be constructed downtown. There are height restrictions in downtown that aren't going away because of the airport. The current FAA approval limit for downtown is 525ft. This is the planned height of the final phase of CityScape when constructed on the parking lot across from Collier Center. However, the 1986 plan for a 1,700ft tower was planned in Uptown Phoenix where the FAA showed little concern for the building height in the 80's. There are dozens of planned skyscapers on hold in Phoenix until the economy recovers. However, what I would like to know as well is when the U.S., any city, will be home to the tallest building in the World again. That title is currently in Dubai. My father is there now and I am asking him for pictures!!! This building is nearly 3,000ft in height! Just over 2,600ft...amazing.

Our "dashing" Mayor recently signed an economic agreement with the Dubai authorities, Phoenix is a part of only a handful of cities in the World with such an agreement which must be sanctioned by the Prince, and the UAE are big on building and showcasing their partnerships in other countries. The Mayor quipped about building a "sister" tower to the Dubai project, LOL! Would be uncanny and amazing. But, who knows. Wouldn't surprise me since an Israeli-American firm is planning three mixed use towers on the conner of McDowell and Central. We will have to see what materializes as the economy recovers.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by fcorrales80

Phoenix will have a towering skyscraper in time; don't know when but it will happen. What we don't want is to rush a project and have it sitting nearly vacant for a decade because of the immense square footage available in one massive tower.

We had the opportunity many times in the past to build highrises taller than the Chase tower. They were on the drawing boards as far back as the early '80s, but something always seemed to scrap those projects ... and a lot of it was the NIMBY factor. Also, some of the more recent highrise projects (completed or not) have been condos. There were too many on the books to the point where there became a glut. What is needed in terms of taller structures are HOTELS, and OFFICE SPACE. The W Hotel would have added some nice height to the Phoenix skyline, but it was killed by a Chinese preservation group and their lawsuit. Even a well devised project like CityScape has been scaled back.

Originally Posted by fcorrales80

Patience my dear Valley Native, patience.

I've had patience for a long time, watching our skyline grow ever so slowly while cities much smaller than Phoenix put up taller structures with very little opposition and few SNAFUs. I realize there is much more to making a world class city than just how tall the skyline is, but you know as well as I do that it is a major piece of the puzzle in developing a more active central core.

[Finger Laker]

Originally Posted by fcorrales80

I knew there were a couple of buildings I would miss! Finger Laker, the Space Needle wasn't about towering over Seattle, but about the comparison to buildings in Phoenix and the probability of a towering, tower with an observation deck in Phoenix. The Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, is less than a mile from the center of downtown Seattle. The entire length of the monorail, which connects Westlake Center (downtown) to the Seattle Center (just past the Space Needle) is exactly one mile, so very near the "core." I LOVE the Columbia Center in Seattle, the observation deck is on the 73rd floor of the 76 story, 936ft (???) building. I love the three arch design of the building. However, the Space Needle's view is a little better even though it is lower. The Seattle Center is built uphill from downtown Seattle, giving it much more height than just the structure itself. Hills in Seattle climb nearly 500ft. Like Queen Anne Hill, Volunteer Park, West Seattle, etc.

i'm the opposite (shocking)

I actually much prefer the columbia tower (and it's a lot cheaper) - here are a few shots I snapped with a cheap disposable camera on my last trip up to seattle ....... unfortunatley some douchenozzle decided to steal my wifes purse and our good digital along with it so I lost a few days of photos along with a lot of other stuff

i don't think people realize how much seattle is on a slope - columbia tower is a lot higher than a decent amount of downtown as a base as well ...... walking up there from the water and you're legs definitely learn it

looking over pioneer square and the so/do area ..... qwest field and safeco field ..... the pointy tower building is actually an old "highrise" that has an observation deck in it as well - how times change



looking over downtown towards the seattle center



rainier off in the distance



out towards bainbridge island, etc



and just for giggles ...... one of mecca

[Cyborg13]

My God it's a tornado, suspended in mid air over a park.

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

We had the opportunity many times in the past to build highrises taller than the Chase tower. They were on the drawing boards as far back as the early '80s, but something always seemed to scrap those projects ... and a lot of it was the NIMBY factor. Also, some of the more recent highrise projects (completed or not) have been condos. There were too many on the books to the point where there became a glut. What is needed in terms of taller structures are HOTELS, and OFFICE SPACE. The W Hotel would have added some nice height to the Phoenix skyline, but it was killed by a Chinese preservation group and their lawsuit. Even a well devised project like CityScape has been scaled back.



I've had patience for a long time, watching our skyline grow ever so slowly while cities much smaller than Phoenix put up taller structures with very little opposition and few SNAFUs. I realize there is much more to making a world class city than just how tall the skyline is, but you know as well as I do that it is a major piece of the puzzle in developing a more active central core.

Only the 44 Monroe and the Summit are condo towers. Most of CityScape will be office, and hotel with a component of condos in the second and taller building. The other buildings are office and hotel high-rises. Most of the buildings that were placed on hold or suspended were not due to NIBYISM, but rather because of the financial collapse of real estate and the banking sector; in particular the inability to secure financing because of the collapse of Wall Street and mortgage/business banking nation-wide. This was true in the 80's as well after the Savings and Loan Scandal.

I am sure you have had patience for a while, however, Phoenix in comparison to smaller cities is a very "new" city when you consider its history as a major center. Phoenix was more of a big town up until the 1970's (less than a million people in the entire Valley). The 80's and 90's saw an incredible population boom that continued until today. In all honesty, there was no need for such high-rises in Phoenix because the availability of land near downtown. However, the 80's saw the first sign of an attempt at urbanization with the ValTrans proposal and the plans to build the tallest building in the world (at the time) in Phoenix. After the collapse of real estate and banking in the 80's, it took a long time to build momentum in downtown and along central once again which we have and are currently seeing within the last few years. Much of this is out of concern of an ever expanding horizontal city and the need to abandon unsustainable growth outward and instead concentrate on the interior areas of the city and metro. I believe this economic crisis has shown the city that sprawl is not a sustainable economic engine and an urban center is key to growth and stability.

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

i'm the opposite (shocking)

I actually much prefer the columbia tower (and it's a lot cheaper) - here are a few shots I snapped with a cheap disposable camera on my last trip up to seattle ....... unfortunatley some douchenozzle decided to steal my wifes purse and our good digital along with it so I lost a few days of photos along with a lot of other stuff

i don't think people realize how much seattle is on a slope - columbia tower is a lot higher than a decent amount of downtown as a base as well ...... walking up there from the water and you're legs definitely learn it

looking over pioneer square and the so/do area ..... qwest field and safeco field ..... the pointy tower building is actually an old "highrise" that has an observation deck in it as well - how times change



looking over downtown towards the seattle center



rainier off in the distance



out towards bainbridge island, etc



and just for giggles ...... one of mecca

Yes, I just prefer the view from the needle, not the structure itself. The old high-rise in your photo is the Smith Tower. At its completion it was the world's tallest skyscraper outside of Manhattan at over 500ft in height. Don't you just hate those hazy days in Seattle. If it were clear you could see the glistening glaciers on Rainier and the Olympics to the West. Ahhh, the islands. I have friends that live on Bainbridge and Vashon Islands, all the islands together are known as the San Juans. I love taking the ferry to Bremerton opposite Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula, lived there before moving to the Stadium District in Tacoma, then Olympia, and finally in Seattle while my father was stationed in Ft. Lewis a few times and I was at McChord AFB myself. Also have friends and family that live on Mercer Island. This is the island in the middle of Lake Washington between Seattle and the eastern suburb of Bellevue. Great region, the Seattle area!

I will be in Seattle next month for my 10 year reunion...UGH can't believe in less than 3 years I will be 30!!! NOOOOO! LOL August is the "dry season" in Seattle so I hope this is true this year and I get to see the glory of the Emerald City as the sun makes the city glisten!!! Beautiful! I forgot how grey and industrial the south-end of Seattle looks. I do like how the stadiums broke up the monotony some. Great pics by the way! I do like the "7 hills of Seattle," often compared to the 7 hills of Rome, LOL! It is a sharp rise from the Sound and the Alaskan Way Viaduct visible in your photo.

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by Cyborg13

My God it's a tornado, suspended in mid air over a park.

I thought that myself on some occasions, what a nice observation! Striking like a tornado.

[KarmaPhx]

Looks like a jellyfish.