Why Do Utah Skylines Suck So Much? (Salt Lake City: nightlife, business)

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrape

Okay. Better than Wikipedia I guess. But still, the story seems really short and far fetched. 200 Miles away from a 6.3 quake and buildings swaying? And there is no proof either. I am not buying it. Besides, sltrib is not always the most reliable.

It's the best we have. Just because someone does not buy it, it does not negate it taking place.

[CaptainCrape]

Originally Posted by Kar54

Opinions of skylines are very subjective. I lived in SLC from 1958-1969, the METRO population was under 400,000.

I live Colorado Springs now (below). The city is 445,000 and our metro is 700,000. I think we have one of the worst skylines for a city our size in the nation. What I wouldn't give to have Salt Lake's.

Attachment 161013

Usually, when land is cheap you grow out, when land gets expensive, you grow up. It will happen in due time. This appears to be true throughout the Mountain West. Consider Albuquerque and Tucson. Even Fresno, Riverside, San Bernardino and Bakersfield. None are too impressive.

Ouch. That's still not as bad as Phoenix or Provo for its size though. And you are right. Salt Lake Valleys almost full, buildings are rising.

[CaptainCrape]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

It's the best we have. Just because someone does not buy it, it does not negate it taking place.

I'm not saying it didn't take place. I never saw it happen and I never heard of it happen until recently. It just seems so fake. A 6.3 Earthquake isn't even that big.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Just cause you didn't hear of it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Did you hear of any of the 27 worldwide earthquakes yesterday? Or the 11 major ones over the last 30 days? No? Yet they happened. Explore the US Geological site, USGS.

[CaptainCrape]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

Just cause you didn't hear of it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Did you hear of any of the 27 worldwide earthquakes yesterday? Or the 11 major ones over the last 30 days? No? Yet they happened. Explore the US Geological site, USGS.

I know earthquakes happen everyday. I am not saying they don't. But, I think I would have noticed buildings swaying, unless it was only a tiny little bit of a sway.

[InSandy]

I guess I am not sure what you mean by "skyline". What I take that to mean is the beautiful view I have of where the sun comes up and goes down- the line on the edge of the earth where I see the sky.

By that definition SLC has one of the best, enough to challenge any city in the world.


I'm getting from your references to tall buildings though that you want to know, not why the other cities in Utah don't have a great "skyline", but why they don't have any tall buildings, which to me is what is called "cityscape". A different animal altogether.

And for that I believe the answer is indeed what was answered in post #49 by Kar54: Usually, when land is cheap you grow out, when land gets expensive, you grow up. It will happen in due time. This appears to be true throughout the Mountain West. Consider Albuquerque and Tucson. Even Fresno, Riverside, San Bernardino and Bakersfield. None are too impressive.

Why build up when there is plenty of room to grown out? As more people want to live and work in downtown central, taller buildings will be built to accommodate them. Until then the economics of building up just isn't cost effective.

[UTES]

We may not see cities grow up rather than out anymore. It's no longer necessary to have a business "Downtown" due to the web, shipping and supply options. What we'll see more of are smaller satellite cities develop into "hubs" of business. Why pay to have a suite in some skyscraper when you can pay 1/2 the sq ft rates (or less) for something out in the burbs?

Bill

[MountainBiking]

High rises are built only when there's a need for them. They are not built for the sake of creating postcards. The market dictates when a high rise is needed. Population has nothing to do with it. St. George and most other cities in Utah at this time do not need high rises because there's no market for them. SLC doesn't have more skyscrapers because there's not enough business for them. Look at Boise's skyline. Very small. There, again, not enough business to require more tall buildings.

Another reason taller buildings aren't built is because of sprawl. If buildings were not being built outwards in the city's edges (think Las Vegas) than they would be built going upwards in clusters (skylines) especially residential projects. IMO, building upwards would be much healthier for the environment than building outwards.

-Cheers.

[oldtrader]

The idea that a small city like St George have high rise sky scrapers is just a big joke. As a retired long time commercial/investment Realtor, I can tell you that trying to put a sky scraper in St George would be a complete financial disaster. The rents you could rent it for, would not pay for the construction costs. Low rise buildings like in St George are what the market dictates be built.

Sky scrappers are only built because they are needed due to high concentration of people, and are needed to be able to have a business or apartments. They are only built, when there is no other potential way of supplying business/offices and living quarters. One skyscraper in St George, would house every business, and all the apartment dwellers in the city. The problem is it would remain nearly empty due to the high rental rates that would be needed due to the cost of the building. Anyone that is stupid enough to build such a building, would go bankrupt before it was over, and a mostly empty building would be sitting there slowly deteriorating away.

[latino_esq]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrape

Actually, SLC has a good nightlife, for the Intermountain west, besides Colorado, which has much bigger cities, and weed is legal so it definitely has a better nightlife, right? Lol. And the SLC skyline has been improving a lot, look at the skyline 15 years ago, now look at today's. Its way different and much bigger, though in some areas not very evident. I highly doubt that the skyline would just stop growing. All predictions say its actually speeding up growth.

Originally Posted by Syringaloid

Way worse?
Have you ever been to Boise? I lived in downtown SLC for many years and I can honestly say downtown Boise from street level actually has a better downtown vibe compared to SLC. It's more walkable, has a more cohesive nightlife, smaller more organic blocks full of shops, bars, coffee houses, a lot of new breweries, local restaurants that specialize in locally grown organic food products, wine bars, blocks of sidewalk dining and drinking, art galleries, foilage, safer for cycling, I can go on. Downtown Boise is busy during the day and also at night. SLC's downtown dies at night except for some clubs and restaurants that are spread out over large blocks. I have several friends I left behind in SLC who come up to Boise a few times a year to experience the nightlife downtown which per them is more enjoyable than Salt Lakes. Boise also has a river running through it's downtown along with a greenbelt and parks.

SLC has a larger skyline but SLC is attached to a much larger metro area compared to Boise. A larger skyline does not equate a better downtown at street level.

SLC also has a nice downtown, it's just a completely different vibe compared to Boise and even larger cities like Portland and Denver. Temple Square of course is unique.

SLC nightlife?? That's a - NO -.
I agree with everything Syringaloid said. Salt Lake's nightlife is pretty dead. If you think Salt Lake's nightlife is good, you have to put it into context when you compare it to cities that have fun downtown areas at night. The common factor they all have is the diversity of places to go to within walking distance. Salt Lake doesn't have this. There are a couple places around 400/Main St., but that's about it. Outside of this and you're in for a walk that is rather forgettable and dull. There's no continuity of shops, restaurants and bars that are open late. You're a lot better off just staying at the same pub/bar/club you originally started at.

If you're just looking to get together with friends for drinks, then it passes the bar. But if you want to tour the downtown area a bit at night, soak in the culture, explore, your options are pretty limited. If you want to party, pubcrawl, spend some $$, forget about it.

That's not a nightlife.