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Nashville has many factors working for it, in terms of its building, population, and overall boom development, as an attraction.
*Always had a pretty diverse economy, and has weathered economic downturns in the past very well
*Avoided huge reputation stains that other southern cities in their region, have had impacted to their image, by events that are race-or riot related (think assassinations, racial riots, high profile police shootings, etc)
*Historically a country music, publishing city; resulting in many small bars and locations scattered across the region that play live music
*Creatively energized city, that attracts not only country music singers and stars, but also attracts all types of other music industry and music talent in R&B, rock, pop, blues, jazz, etc. In turn this also fuels other creative and entertainment industries in a smaller way, like tv, film, fashion, modeling, etc
*Has one of the wealthiest suburban counties in the US, and in turn has attracted many high end focused retailers, restaurants, and businesses catering to the wealthy, to its region
*Huge tourism segment, and fast-growing, to see the live music happenings and latest country music stars perform
*Growing sports city that people want to be in: home of the NFL, NHL and MLS teams, and in process of MLB interest and talks of a team expanding or relocating
*Friendly, hospitable, "real" type of people who make you feel welcome (although as the city grows, this sadly changes fast)
*Was cheaper than many areas its size years ago, but housing in Nashville is now pricey, so that is no longer a big option like it was. Plus Tennessee has no state income tax
All of these factors, and more, create an "excitement energy" in the Nashville region that makes people want to go there, and once they do, they usually want to return there time and time again.
And this includes money investment, building investment, company relocation and population growth, as-a-result. Which is what we are seeing live, real-time, happening.
Another major factor to consider is in the post-WWII years of mass suburbanization especially of those middle class and up, Nashville grew out its physical boundaries first via annexation and then outright consolidation with Davidson County in 1963 reaching a physical size of 504 square miles of land area. This meant that Nashville didn't have the precipitous drop in population and tax base that many other US cities faced as well as the intra-regional kind of bickering and lack of coordinated planning that other municipalities with more limited land area and little to no post-WWII annexation or consolidation faced.
This was especially true for the Nashville metropolitan area because it had been a quite small metropolitan area so that 504 square miles for a good while constituted a very large share of the metropolitan area population as the Davidson County areas outside of what had been Nashville proper became heavily developed with suburban tracts.
Due to many factors not limited to nimby's, Boston's sweet spot for planning resides within a range of 220~270', with very few projects exceeding 270'. Dozens of buildings are currently planned in that range.
'Further out,' the pipeline has only a few going taller than ~320'.
Not counting (Cambridge/ Somerville/ Everett etc), which have about (30) buildings >250' tall, with about a dozen and a half existing or under construction >300' tall,
Boston itself has exactly (41) buildings built or u/c >400' tall, (85) buildings existing or u/c >300' tall
about 70 more >250' tall, and dozens more >230'.
Boston itself has (101) buildings open, or u/c >270' tall.
Not alone, but when a city builds a 1000 foot skyscraper (or even a 600 footer) its kind of hard to not tie it into its overall stature as a city.
The interesting ones are places like Tulsa and OKC that don't have many, but the ones they do have are way taller than you would expect. Coincidentally they are the most important cities for hundreds of miles in each direction.
Another example is San Diego-plenty of high rises but nothing over 500 feet. The cities that are of higher stature than San Diego going up the west coast all coincidentally have much taller buildings.
You could probably also compare the rate of Austin's skyscraper production with their disproportionately high GDP increase rate.
To be fair, San Diego is throwing up way more +300' buildings than any city in California sans LA. It's just height restricted to ~500' in elevation due to the FAA, so it can't build taller buildings.
Baltimore is prepped for a skyscraper boom right now. Its "sweet spot" for construction has historically been in the 200-400' range. Not breaking any height records but allows for a lot of infilling, and due to their layout widens the city's skyline(s) considerably. The most recent buildings completed are..
Liberty Harbor East - 285'
Avalon 555 President - 280'
414 Light Street - 500'
U/C
Allied Harbor Point (U/C) - 250' + 200'
Planned
401 S. Charles Street - ~600'
300 E. Pratt Street - ~500'
Parcel 1 Harbor Point - ~500' + ~400' + ~300'
303 Light Street - 385' + 290'
301 President Street - 350'
325 W. Baltimore Street - 375'
Penn Station - 250' + 170'
The Compass - ~230'
To be fair, San Diego is throwing up way more +300' buildings than any city in California sans LA. It's just height restricted to FAA ~500' in elevation so it can't build taller buildings.
Yea, and I think in this case this is a good thing as it should ultimately mean more pressure on building out underdeveloped sites rather than taller single projects. San Diego has a lot of surface parking lots in its greater downtown area.
The number of buildings that have gone up in Austin in the past 20 years is mind-blowing. The skyline is almost entirely new. I would have to guess that Austin is the city that has climbed the list the most.
It’s also nice to see that Chicago has one of the highest numbers of new buildings. Yet another piece of evidence to remind the Chicago-haters out there that, no, Chicago is not dying.
Chicago dying? What moron would opine such nonsense?
Yea, and I think in this case this is a good thing as it should ultimately mean more pressure on building out underdeveloped sites rather than taller single projects. San Diego has a lot of surface parking lots in its greater downtown area.
Yeah the greater downtown can accommodate a lot more infill, and it's good to see it being capitalized with 5 over 1 and high-rises going up left and right.
Chicago dying? What moron would opine such nonsense?
Drove through there Labor Day weekend to Milwaukee .. a city I'm glad to knock of my must visit list (great city btw). I was somewhat disappointed that "only" saw like 3-4 towers under construction (tower and Chicago starts around 500 feet or you won't notice it).
^^Dallas' growth in the last 60 years is amazing. It came about with the explosion of the 'car,' a not-developed street-wall, less retail/ dining lash-up/ less-walkable. Summer weather is formidable. These cities will never get near 5th Ave/ Magnificent Mile/ River North/ Oak Street/ Capital Hill/ Newbury Street or South Beach type experience, but NorthPark Center/ Highland Park Village/ Galleria/ Design District/ type. Igloo car to Igloo store seems a reasonable way to cope with Texas' heat. Imo, Dallas isn't catastrophic for its lack of a fully developed retail/dining/ nightlife. Isn't it what a car-centered spread out area ergonomically (drives).
Buckhead/ Atlanta is the outlier: a City having achieved a retail/dining/ nightlife mecca densifying 'basically' from the outside in--despite if most still drive to get there.
It seems intuitive that Dallas would prioritize 'doing Atlanta.'
i have no idea how to couch that/ let alone 'do' it.
But Dallas needs to drive Uptown's growth with a 'Buckhead' mindset.
DFW is so huge, so sprawled out, the driver of retail will come from its suburban (local) convenience/ "sub-mecca" for years to come, as its 2nd, Uptown city builds up.
I don't know how I missed this, but that's happening in places like Knox-Henderson with the recent groundbreaking of this new project. It will total 1 million sq ft with over 100,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant space and it will all be built at once. It will consist of one 399 ft tower, the other 330 ft, and a 155 ft midrise. It will be located right next to the Katy Trail with a half acre park connecting to it. Since this development borders Highland Park, it will be more upscale like a Buckhead, same with the Turtle Creek neighborhood (that's seeing a lot of development - like this project) that borders Highland Park too. The retail in the project is being managed/leased by the person who owns Highland Park Village. It's basically an extension and they will put retailers there that cannot fit at HPV. Since Knox St is a main street with retail already, it will just enhance it further. There's a 20 story apartment tower U/C there with 5+ high-rises planned to start in this same neighborhood. EDIT: DART dug a subway here in the 90s and never built it out. I wonder will the rapid densification of the area make them change their mind?
Also...This building just broke ground a few weeks ago in Uptown, overlooking Klyde Warren Park. It will be 450 ft, the tallest building in Uptown.
Recent Pic with pink dot showing the location of the new building in Uptown
Sorry for all the edits, but this project is also adding a retail component as well. The Central is moving along with the first residential tower almost topped out. This project has access to the Cityplace/Uptown DART subway station. I love that it will surround a central park. It's my favorite multiphase project, with the NorthEnd (Goldman Sachs) development right behind.
Anyone notice a slowdown of projects getting off the ground this year due to high financing and constructions costs?
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