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I think St. Louis' skyline and cityscape in general is really misunderstood. For one, even at it's greatest population density St. Louis was never a tall city and surely not a monocentric city. Then throw in the Arch as a defacto height barrier, add in 60 years of slow post industrial growth, and a competing suburban CBD with it's own nice skyline. St. Louis never had a chance to compete with flashy new skylines we see now. With that said, St. Louis is starting to see some really interesting hi-rises pop up in the past couple of years. I actually think St. Louis is positioning itself for a mini hi-rise boom in the next decade or so, because the last few mammoth sized historic properties are being rehabbed or have plans of rehabilitation.
Well Pittsburgh obviously developed in a completely different fashion than St. Louis. My ex-wife is a Pittsburgh native, so I've been there several times. Although the cities share many similarities being old river cities, and similar metro populations, slow growth, post industrial regions, etc. Pittsburgh is way hillier than St. Louis and sits in a river valley at the convergence of a few rivers. From what I could tell downtown Pittsburgh was probably the easiest developable land in the region and perfect spot for a clustering of tall buildings. Also, from what I could tell downtown Pittsburgh has a more central location in it's metro than downtown St. Louis. Finally, I think Pittsburgh has very proud and wonderful corporate leadership that decided to build beautiful signature skyscrapers in it's downtown area. Many of St. Louis' major corporations chose to either build in Clayton or build in a suburban office park 20 miles from Downtown. That's my thoughts.
Well Pittsburgh obviously developed in a completely different fashion than St. Louis. My ex-wife is a Pittsburgh native, so I've been there several times. Although the cities share many similarities being old river cities, and similar metro populations, slow growth, post industrial regions, etc. Pittsburgh is way hillier than St. Louis and sits in a river valley at the convergence of a few rivers. From what I could tell downtown Pittsburgh was probably the easiest developable land in the region and perfect spot for a clustering of tall buildings. Also, from what I could tell downtown Pittsburgh has a more central location in it's metro than downtown St. Louis. Finally, I think Pittsburgh has very proud and wonderful corporate leadership that decided to build beautiful signature skyscrapers in it's downtown area. Many of St. Louis' major corporations chose to either build in Clayton or build in a suburban office park 20 miles from Downtown. That's my thoughts.
That makes sense. It is very difficult for a cbd to compete with a suburban office park these days. Many of them are adding mixed use developments and amenities that are highly desirable. It is remarkable what Pittsburgh has been able to do given its history.
I think St. Louis' skyline and cityscape in general is really misunderstood. For one, even at it's greatest population density St. Louis was never a tall city and surely not a monocentric city. Then throw in the Arch as a defacto height barrier, add in 60 years of slow post industrial growth, and a competing suburban CBD with it's own nice skyline. St. Louis never had a chance to compete with flashy new skylines we see now. With that said, St. Louis is starting to see some really interesting hi-rises pop up in the past couple of years. I actually think St. Louis is positioning itself for a mini hi-rise boom in the next decade or so, because the last few mammoth sized historic properties are being rehabbed or have plans of rehabilitation.
St Louis does have some lovely neighborhoods that are very urban, low rising and dense.
Their downtown has struggled to build tall buildings over the years, and I think the movement of business away from the river to Clayton has hurt its ability to attract a lot of development activity for high rises downtown.
The geographical layout of the St Louis region does not help downtown build up and become more dense, either. Since the layout is flat, sprawling land that is cheaper and easier to build on rather than locating in the downtown region.
Would love to see St Louis' downtown build a good 3-4 skyscrapers between 500 and 700 feet, and then another 10 or so between 300-500 feet.
St Louis does have some lovely neighborhoods that are very urban, low rising and dense.
Their downtown has struggled to build tall buildings over the years, and I think the movement of business away from the river to Clayton has hurt its ability to attract a lot of development activity for high rises downtown.
The geographical layout of the St Louis region does not help downtown build up and become more dense, either. Since the layout is flat, sprawling land that is cheaper and easier to build on rather than locating in the downtown region.
Would love to see St Louis' downtown build a good 3-4 skyscrapers between 500 and 700 feet, and then another 10 or so between 300-500 feet.
Based on the amount of development that's happened in the past few years and what's been proposed for the future. Defintely the most high rise development the city has seen in a very long time. St. Louis has a lot of cranes going up around the city, it's just most of them are not in downtown St. Louis, but rather Midtown, Central West End, or Clayton. Also, once the large historical buildings are finished being rehabbed (which is almost done) there will be nowhere to build but up. I don't think people realize that St. Louis has been redeveloping massive 10 story warehouses into lofts for the past 20 years. Each one of those buildings accounted for hundreds of new apartments. So downtown has been growing rapidly through redevelopment but only two new residential towers have been built downtown in that time period, giving the impression downtown hasn't grown.
I don't think people realize how much alignment of moon and stars has to occur for that type of development to occur.
3-4 skyscrapers between 500-700ft and
10 between 300 - 500 is a ton of real estate.
Even Dallas isn't seeing that type of growth in its downtown.
People see places like Austin or Seattle throwing up a ton of towers in their respective cores and think they can see that elsewhere.
Well I guess anyone can picture anything, but that type of investment, in this day and age, is only happening in very few places where multiple factors came into play to make things all pull together.
I don't think people realize how much alignment of moon and stars has to occur for that type of development to occur.
3-4 skyscrapers between 500-700ft and
10 between 300 - 500 is a ton of real estate.
Even Dallas isn't seeing that type of growth in its downtown.
People see places like Austin or Seattle throwing up a ton of towers in their respective cores and think they can see that elsewhere.
Well I guess anyone can picture anything, but that type of investment, in this day and age, is only happening in very few places where multiple factors came into play to make things all pull together.
Skyscraper construction, or even high rise, is the exception not the rule in legacy rust belt cities. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have arguably perfect skylines so they are good, but Cleveland and Detroit have all those awkward gaps.
I always assumed STL had some kind of local law about buildings going higher than the arch.
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