Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It’s more than just that. San Diego has height restrictions due to its airport being just as close, if not even closer to downtown, yet it still manages to have a beautiful skyline.
San Diego has a beautiful setting on the harbor. San Jose is south of the SF bay. Also, most of the economic development in SJ/Silicon Valley is in sprawling office parks, typically businesses that are not conducive to skyscraper development. And IIRC, SJ's airport flight path places it right above DT San Jose, while San Diego's is slightly to the north
I’m not sure if anyone has told Phoenix that it’s about two years short of crossing a major population milestone. Once you hit that 5 million point, you’re no longer a small/medium city/region and the criticism and judgement really gets harsh then. It’s like the 21 year old that refuses to acknowledge the fact that it’s an adult and not a teenager. The adults are soon to be its peers whether it want them to be or not.
Who cares. People have been bashing Phoenix on this board for years. Also, it's not as though Phoenix isn't trying. Downtown Phoenix will never have a tall skyline due to its proximity to Sky Harbor, but it will continue to increase density. In any case, the downtown area has changed significantly in the past 5 years and will continue to do so. It has added significant low-mid rise development and there are about 20+ hi-rise projects in the works in downtown alone (not counting midtown).
The first time I saw downtown Las Vegas, I was shocked at how anemic was. I really expected more/taller office towers.
In a city that pretty much caters to tourists and has never been a major business hub? I don't know why you expected that. Most of Las Vegas's commercial activity is based out of Southern California, and has strong ties to that region for much of its history, so there was very little reason to have huge banks or corporate headquarters there.
Also, Vegas didn't even have 100,000 people in its city proper until the 1960s. Even as recently as 1990, only about 250,000 people lived in Vegas (and barely 750,000 people lived in Clark County total at the time). Quite frankly, I'm surprised Vegas even has the office towers that it does TBH.
In a city that pretty much caters to tourists and has never been a major business hub? I don't know why you expected that. Most of Las Vegas's commercial activity is based out of Southern California, and has strong ties to that region for much of its history, so there was very little reason to have huge banks or corporate headquarters there.
Also, Vegas didn't even have 100,000 people in its city proper until the 1960s. Even as recently as 1990, only about 250,000 people lived in Vegas (and barely 750,000 people lived in Clark County total at the time). Quite frankly, I'm surprised Vegas even has the office towers that it does TBH.
Downtown Vegas would be a heck of a lot cooler if they had built the monstrosities on the strip downtown instead. I'm sure it's space prohibitive and all that, but I agree with the previous poster that there are missed opportunities there.
Baltimore's skyline is pretty stunted and table top-like for a major Northeastern metro. I'd expect it to be a little bit taller, especially because of the CSA it lies within.
Downtown Vegas would be a heck of a lot cooler if they had built the monstrosities on the strip downtown instead. I'm sure it's space prohibitive and all that, but I agree with the previous poster that there are missed opportunities there.
Yep Downtown Las Vegas is not really where its huge skyline is located, that would be the strip.
Phoenix on both metrics St. Louis should be taller
Orlando should be taller
Indianapolis should be denser
Jacksonville...smh
There is a height restriction in Downtown St. Louis of 600ft to preserve the riverfront view of the Arch. That view of the skyline should have a little help when 2nd and 3rd phase of Ball Park Village is complete. St. Louis has seen a resurgence mostly in the residential sector but class A office space has remained flat due to competition with Cortex and Clayton.
St. Louis does have a large skyline for a city of 300,000.
For a MSA of 3,000,000 it has a small skyline from the riverfront looking west. When looking at the spine of the city aka central corridor (downtown to the Central West End or Clayton) it is pretty much what you would expect for a metro of its size.
Nashville had a small skyline as of 5 years ago but that has quickly changed and may become impressive over the next 5 years.
Jacksonville is a nice city for what it is but the skyline needs help.
Ft. Lauderdale Florida use to have a small skyline but given the construction that I've read about, that has changed dramatically.
Which of these cities should have a lot taller and more dense skyline, relative to their large metro area population?
Skylines correlate more to the nature of a city's economy than its population. You can still kinda get a rough feel for how big a place is based on its skyline, but with booming industries like tech which tend to opt for sprawling campuses instead of trophy towers, it doesn't tell the whole story.
But with that said, LA would be my answer. I know that it largely grew up in the 20th century and wasn't an important business center in the same sense as NYC and Chicago, and although its skyline has more density than most are aware of, it's still somewhat weird that its skyline still has something of a question mark beside it when it comes to where it ranks among American cities.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
