SA metro estimate just shy of 2 million (Houston, Dallas: highrise, agriculture)

[traveler guy]

Originally Posted by michelangelo_sa

Let me preference this by saying that San Antonio doesn't have a 50% dropout rate and actually Houston and Dallas both have worse dropout rates. Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth all have graduation rates below 50 percent meaning their dropout rates are above 50 percent.

Firstly, SA isn't a blue collar city and I don't think it's known for that. It's known for a lot of other things but never have I heard it called blue collar aside from a few comments by people with very little knowlegde of San Antonio.

Second, education has almost nothing to do with how big or tall a skyline. Education helps in attracking jobs and companies, yes but education doesn't factor into whether a office highrise, residential highrise, hospitality highrise or any mix of those three highrise is built.

The major factors in deciding whether a highrise or skyscraper is built varies for many different reasons.

Including:

Cost. Cost of land, cost of construction.

Market. Whether a market can support it. Meaning, whether a market could support more hotel rooms or more residential units for so and so price. Also, what is the office vacancy rate?

Zoning. Whether an area is zoned for that type of development. In Houston's case, there is NO zoning whatsoever.

Economics. Both locally and nationally.

Not true. There is no rule or restriction that no building downtown can surpass 750 feet.

The only height restrictions are near the Alamo. That's it.

Again, not true at all. Downtown buildings do not have to be brown. Where are you getting this stuff from?

That economics, not location. If the companies that helped spur the 80's building booms of Dallas and Houston were instead located in Jackson Hole Wyoming, guess what, Jackson Hole would have that skyline.

San Antonio is known for many things it's tourist attractions, it's well made medical center, the Mexican/German heritage, but to corporations it's known as a blue collar city. I don't like hat image of SA ether but thats that.

I wasn't referring to education not as to building the high rises but to attracting the companies that do build them.

I was going to put the marketing segment but forgot my bad.

I put location instead of economics cause if Dallas was built in a different location it would never have become so important. Which is why I put other cities as Miami and New Orleans cause while the economics is important they most likely wouldn't exist if New Orleans wasn't founded on the Mississippi R. or if Miami didn't have does beaches and warm weather for people to retire to. Which is why I put Location instead of economics which could fall under that category.

[traveler guy]

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

Well Redmond is a little different, given that it's a satellite city that probably has different zoning and height restrictions than larger cities. The fact remains that there's no one concrete reason why SA's skyline is the way it is because there's many factors that go back decades.

But back on the original subject, I would like to see SA develop more like other metros (Seattle, for instance), in which companies are spread out to various cities around the metro area. This creates satellite communities that aren't merely suburbs from which people commute, but actual population and business centers in their own right. This in turn fosters more concentrated development and balanced growth. SA proper has always dominated the metro to the point where when people hear or speak of SA, its almost always limited to SA itself. Fortunately, New Braunfels, Schertz, Seguin, Cibolo, Boerne, and Windcrest are finally getting their acts together and looking to become more than just small towns/faceless suburbs. Hopefully it can keep up and SA can become a more vibrant and varied metro area!

I agree with you with this one cause it's been said many times that SA is just this isolated city with almost no satellite cites around except for New Braunfels whose been growing over the past years. Soon we will be called the SA-NB metropolitan area which I think would give NB more attention that will allow it to grow faster. this with the approved SA-A rail line could help the SA-A corridor fill up even faster as well.

[schertz1]

Originally Posted by traveler guy

San Antonio is known for many things it's tourist attractions, it's well made medical center, the Mexican/German heritage, but to corporations it's known as a blue collar city. I don't like hat image of SA ether but thats that.

I wasn't referring to education not as to building the high rises but to attracting the companies that do build them.

I was going to put the marketing segment but forgot my bad.

I put location instead of economics cause if Dallas was built in a different location it would never have become so important. Which is why I put other cities as Miami and New Orleans cause while the economics is important they most likely wouldn't exist if New Orleans wasn't founded on the Mississippi R. or if Miami didn't have does beaches and warm weather for people to retire to. Which is why I put Location instead of economics which could fall under that category.

You are wrong about this blue collar business. The largest sectors of the SA economy are not blue collar jobs. Tourism/hospitality being the one exception, maybe construction. Can you list a few of the blue collar jobs, that define San Antonio, you are talking about. Also, what office highrise is currently being built in DT Austin, Dallas or Houston?

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

Well Redmond is a little different, given that it's a satellite city that probably has different zoning and height restrictions than larger cities. The fact remains that there's no one concrete reason why SA's skyline is the way it is because there's many factors that go back decades.

But back on the original subject, I would like to see SA develop more like other metros (Seattle, for instance), in which companies are spread out to various cities around the metro area. This creates satellite communities that aren't merely suburbs from which people commute, but actual population and business centers in their own right. This in turn fosters more concentrated development and balanced growth. SA proper has always dominated the metro to the point where when people hear or speak of SA, its almost always limited to SA itself. Fortunately, New Braunfels, Schertz, Seguin, Cibolo, Boerne, and Windcrest are finally getting their acts together and looking to become more than just small towns/faceless suburbs. Hopefully it can keep up and SA can become a more vibrant and varied metro area!

Houston is the same way as far as known suburbs and it was on the biggest metros.

[oldmanshirt]

Originally Posted by traveler guy

I agree with you with this one cause it's been said many times that SA is just this isolated city with almost no satellite cites around except for New Braunfels whose been growing over the past years. Soon we will be called the SA-NB metropolitan area which I think would give NB more attention that will allow it to grow faster. this with the approved SA-A rail line could help the SA-A corridor fill up even faster as well.

At this point it looks like SH130 will be finished long before the SA-A rail line even gets going, but the effect should be the same.

As fast as this region has been growing the past 5 years, the next 15 are going to be unbelievable!

[oldmanshirt]

Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio

Houston is the same way as far as known suburbs and it was on the biggest metros.

Sorry, I just can't buy that argument considering Galveston is a popular destination in its own right, Pasadena contains a large concentration of refineries and other energy corp operations like Exxon, Katy has a large retail development, and The Woodlands has a considerable amount of office space and urban development.

Now, you may argue that Galveston kind of stands apart from Houston, Pasadena is kind of smelly, and Katy and The Woodlands are just typical suburbs, but they all have more development than any SA suburb or satellite city, and other Houston metro cities such as Sugar Land should serve as a model for leaders of SA metro cities when they consider how to grow economically while still maintaining a unique charm and character.

Luckily, I think they're on the right track, and these population growth numbers reflect that

[traveler guy]

Originally Posted by schertz1

You are wrong about this blue collar business. The largest sectors of the SA economy are not blue collar jobs. Tourism/hospitality being the one exception, maybe construction. Can you list a few of the blue collar jobs, that define San Antonio, you are talking about. Also, what office highrise is currently being built in DT Austin, Dallas or Houston?

Blue collar job is one that requires a certain uniform that all employs have to wear. Blue collar jobs well the construction work force, agriculture centers , toyota plant, the thousands of family owned shops dominating the inner city which include tire shops and restaurants, HEB, Tourist workforce, even the lower type medical worker, even military is considered blue collar which if you didn't check is anther top employer of SA along with the medical services, fiesta texas, and sea world just to name a few. That was the longest sentences I ever typed.

And for the up to date construction of high rises around Texas and the world for that matter go to Emporis.com
and type the city you want.

[King Koopa]

Originally Posted by schertz1

You are wrong about this blue collar business. The largest sectors of the SA economy are not blue collar jobs. Tourism/hospitality being the one exception, maybe construction. Can you list a few of the blue collar jobs, that define San Antonio, you are talking about. Also, what office highrise is currently being built in DT Austin, Dallas or Houston?

There are plenty being built in DT Dallas and Houston. Houston right now has four. The tallest is 630 feet (47-stories). Here is a rendering of it. There is another proposal for a 50-story tower in the front of Houston's Downtown (so it would be pushing 700 feet). I believe Dallas has a few in Uptown. Austin is building mostly highrise residential. I'm guessing by blue-collar, he means all of the service jobs like the Toyota plant and the ones you named. SA is mostly a blue-collar city and there is nothing wrong with that. I guess it depends on what side of town you are on, because the NW side feels extremely white collar, but the southside feels blue-collar. I also take back Austin. There is a new office tower proposed called "Musuem Tower". It will be 30-stories.

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

Sorry, I just can't buy that argument considering Galveston is a popular destination in its own right, Pasadena contains a large concentration of refineries and other energy corp operations like Exxon, Katy has a large retail development, and The Woodlands has a considerable amount of office space and urban development.

Now, you may argue that Galveston kind of stands apart from Houston, Pasadena is kind of smelly, and Katy and The Woodlands are just typical suburbs, but they all have more development than any SA suburb or satellite city, and other Houston metro cities such as Sugar Land should serve as a model for leaders of SA metro cities when they consider how to grow economically while still maintaining a unique charm and character.

Luckily, I think they're on the right track, and these population growth numbers reflect that

The Woodlands is not a typical suburb. It is definitely a satellite city, and actually is the home of a Fortune 500 company. SA doesn't have anything like the Woodlands (it would if Stone Oak was its own city). Sugar Land is the same as The Woodlands (just bigger). Katy is a typical suburb, but has a large employment center nearby (Energy Corridor).

[schertz1]

[quote=traveler guy;3228450]Blue collar job is one that requires a certain uniform that all employs have to wear. Blue collar jobs well the construction work force, agriculture centers , toyota plant, the thousands of family owned shops dominating the inner city which include tire shops and restaurants, HEB, Tourist workforce, even the lower type medical worker, even military is considered blue collar which if you didn't check is anther top employer of SA along with the medical services, fiesta texas, and sea world just to name a few. That was the longest sentences I ever typed.

And for the up to date construction of high rises around Texas and the world for that matter go to Emporis.com
and type the city you want.[/quote


The military, especially in San Antonio, is not blue collar labor. It is mostly highly specialized medical specialties and aero-space technology. The civilian labor force at the bases, minus the janitors and grounds keepers, also are not blue collar. They are financial, computer, contract management, medical, administrative, and security specialist.
I am sure you can name many blue collar jobs, they however, do not represent this city any more than other cities. Maybe, you did not see I have already mentioned tourism/hospitalities and construction.
I can not think of a medical job, even lower level, that is considered blue collar. They all require a degree or certification. If you sweep floors and empty trash in a hospital or clinic, you are not a low level medical worker. You are a janitor. Also, I am aware of emperios. You mentioned we are not building high rise office buildings dt like other cities. I asked you to list a few high rise office buildings going in in Austin, Dallas, or Houston. Which you did not so I will assume there are none.

[NEsananto]

Houston:
Memorial Hermann Tower
T. Boone Pickens Academic Tower
Energy Center I and II
Dallas:
Victory Residential Tower (has office,resident, and mixed)
One Victory Park
Rosewood Court
2000 McKinney Av
Austin:
none
San Antonio:
Tesoro HQ
South Texas Medical Research Tower