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Well, it's not really going out on a limb to say that it might be a few years before another 1000'er like Waterline. Dallas and Houston haven't built one of those in 40 years after all!
Not true. Houston built Texas Tower two years ago and 609 Main 6 years ago. Both would have been the tallest building in Austin at their completion.
Well, it's not really going out on a limb to say that it might be a few years before another 1000'er like Waterline. Dallas and Houston haven't built one of those in 40 years after all! Residential projects are continuing to break ground, though. This one a month ago, for example: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/new...in-west-campus
I certainly think that interest rates will lead to a slowdown across the nation, and like I said, nobody is going to start big office projects in the near future. I don't see evidence that Austin would be harder hit than anywhere else on this front, though. If anything it will be healthier than most everywhere else as most other cities are more office dominant.
As for Dallas, its boom cycle started in the 80s and was cut short due to the savings and loans crisis. Basically, around the same city proper size that Austin is currently. It didn't last for more than 8 years. Dallas' skyline was super overbuilt and battled with high vacancy as a result. As all the banks that were suppose to fill those office buildings failed, they left behind millions of sq ft of office space. Now, a lot of that office space is aging, with some of it being or planned to be converted into residential. One thing that wasn't happening in Texas that Austin benefits from now, is signature mixed use towers that engage the street level better.
Austin not booming when Dallas and Houston did IMO, saved it from the 80s urban planning mistakes. I think because of the crash, Dallas developers have been conservative since then. That really messed up Dallas more than people think. Even Houston recovered a lot better than Dallas did. One thing I am always impressed by, is how sustained Austin's growth has been. If Dallas or Houston sustained that growth, both skylines would probably be double what it is now. Both cities cancelled a lot of projects, including supertalls. I do hope Austin can avoid overbuilding though. Only two 540+ buildings have been built since 2010 in Dallas. The rest of it being infill development.
As for Dallas, its boom cycle started in the 80s and was cut short due to the savings and loans crisis. Basically, around the same city proper size that Austin is currently. It didn't last for more than 8 years. Dallas' skyline was super overbuilt and battled with high vacancy as a result. As all the banks that were suppose to fill those office buildings failed, they left behind millions of sq ft of office space. Now, a lot of that office space is aging, with some of it being or planned to be converted into residential. One thing that wasn't happening in Texas that Austin benefits from now, is signature mixed use towers that engage the street level better.
Austin not booming when Dallas and Houston did IMO, saved it from the 80s urban planning mistakes. I think because of the crash, Dallas developers have been conservative since then. That really messed up Dallas more than people think. Even Houston recovered a lot better than Dallas did. One thing I am always impressed by, is how sustained Austin's growth has been. If Dallas or Houston sustained that growth, both skylines would probably be double what it is now. Both cities cancelled a lot of projects, including supertalls. I do hope Austin can avoid overbuilding though. Only two 540+ buildings have been built since 2010 in Dallas. The rest of it being infill development.
I agree with you about the 80s towers being terrible at the street level, though I think the real reason why Austin had more of a residential boom is that its downtown has a nightlife and recreation component that Dallas and Houston do not have.
I don't think "not booming in the 80s" is necessarily correlated. Austin does have some of the behemoth 80s office towers as well they just aren't nearly as tall as the ones in Dallas. E.g. 600 Congress. Every bit as bad on the street level, though.
Also, ultimately building tall is driven by land values and they are higher in Austin for various reasons.
Man Chicago has fallen off the cliff when it comes to the skyscraper game.
"Construction will officially begin on 400 Lake Shore Drive in 45 days. Related Midwest outlined their construction schedule yesterday in a construction logistics community meeting. . . . . With LR Contracting and BOWA Construction working on the towers, the construction will start with the northern tower. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the 72-story skyscraper will rise 858 feet tall . . . . .
Dallas hasn't really been building skyscrapers like that, for a combination of reasons. Height restrictions (Love Field) in areas that are hot and Downtown needing to eliminate parking minimums to make Downtown more attractive to developers (new info I just learned). I was watching a city council meeting about parking minimums, the council was told that developers don't really like building new construction in Downtown because of the proliferation of surface parking lots. As they put it, people don't want a view of a parking lot. I can't say I'm surprised by it though. In 2000, Uptown and Victory Park didn't exist and was pretty much greenfield development. Now, it's denser than Downtown Dallas with very little surface parking. Crazy how far behind it was in comparison to Downtown then and it now has 13,065,267 sq ft of office space (more on the way) with over 20,000 residents. Some people may describe it as stubby or short, which is fine by me, but it has definitely added to the urban feeling of the core. They've built a lot of high-rises to make an impact. Developers like dense urban mixed use neighborhoods. The city plans to vote on parking minimums this fall or winter. If all of this infill happened in Downtown too, it would be at a different level right now.
Not the best quality, but the first two pics are screenshots from the local news tower cam on top of the Bank of America Plaza (921 ft). Last one is a drone or helicopter screenshot. All are taken within the same week (last week) on different days.
Victory Park to the left (adjacent to the cleared lot) with the tallest high-rises around 450 ft.
A few featured projects --- Orange Dot - NorthEnd development, with Goldman Sachs 800,000 sq ft campus just broke ground. NorthEnd has the potential for future skyscrapers, but Goldman's campus will not be. I don't expect to see any ancillary development soon though because of the high interest rates. It really will be the missing link between Victory Park and Uptown. Blue Dot - 23Springs (399 ft) and 2811 Maple (372 ft), both projects are U/C right next to each other.Red Dot - Four Seasons Turtle Creek (464 ft) planned to start soon and will be the 2nd tallest building outside of Downtown.
Uptown Dallas and you can also see the tallest building outside of Downtown - Cityplace Tower (560 ft) in the distance
^^for those who.... #FAA restricted heights for Love Field. Very nice!!
Boston/ Cambridge/ Somerville/Everett has about 74 bldgs >250' approved/ proposed or u/c.......
32 of which are >300'/ progress up to the minute: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threa...562029/page-56
*incl Bay City and 1 Joslin Pl #80-82 of the list w/ a few others in development.
**many being part of very large projects w/ somewhat lower flanking bldgs.
Even approved residential construction is up under Wu.
How long it takes them to get financing is another matter.
But, the proliferation of labs continues in the utterly absurd measure.....
Last edited by odurandina; 10-18-2023 at 06:58 PM..
^^for those who.... #FAA restricted heights for Love Field. Very nice!!
Boston/ Cambridge/ Somerville/Everett has about 74 bldgs >250' approved/ proposed or u/c.......
32 of which are >300'/ progress up to the minute: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threa...562029/page-56
*incl Bay City and 1 Joslin Pl #80-82 of the list w/ a few others in development.
**many being part of very large projects w/ somewhat lower flanking bldgs.
Even approved residential construction is up under Wu.
How long it takes them to get financing is another matter.
But, the proliferation of labs continues in the utterly absurd measure.....
Well, again, like you said, Boston keeps building labs. The city will quite literally become sterile. If there is a lab bubble burst, Boston could suffer quite a bit. They make housing SO hard to build and the suburbs are even worse. The Boston Globe released another article on how bad it is yesterday, with an emphasis on Milton.
I really don't know what people who live in/around Boston expect? I don't see why housing can't be more streamlined. Everything is hurting up there from transportation quality/quantity, upward mobility, younger graduates, the restaurant/dining/nightlife scene, etc.
One solution- would be to build some housing where there is no housing. Build tall where you can and housing a few thousand more people per acre. But Boston likes to be difficult....
BLAME ZONING.
Thanks to single family detached housing rules, cities are forced to consolidate their businesses in a small space. That means building up and up and up. Which is the most expensive, too. And the customer gets the bill.
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