We need some skycrapers in El Paso... (San Antonio, Alamo: condo, live in)

[malamute]

Originally Posted by HIGH!Lonesome

You got this one right on the money (financial banking center) that will never happen since all El Paso banks are now out of town owned, when the banks were locally owned they had potential now money flows right out of El Paso to other prosperous cities.

When it comes to financial centers, banks and so on, right now the trend is for all those to be more concentrated in Chicago and New York. We're moving away from home-grown businesses to the big conglomerates.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Originally Posted by malamute

When it comes to financial centers, banks and so on, right now the trend is for all those to be more concentrated in Chicago and New York.

That trend already happen and it is here to stay, the big cities with the big banks won by acquiring the smaller banks and merging with other larger financial institutes, however not all is lost for the exception of El Paso's banks, there are some cities in the southwest that retained their local banks and they are prospering and still growing without the interfearence of outside intervention by bigger banks.

[Robert Breton]

El Paso is not destined for any high rise buildings since no large corporation will ever choose El Paso for it's corporate headquarters. The El Paso Natural Gas Company which started here in 1928 was a great asset to El Paso. Sadly at the whim of the idiot running the company the decision to move the company to Houston was carried out. This ended all the good paying jobs that EPNG had provided for years devastating long time employees and their families.El Paso will never attract corporations like Intel,Dell, Hewlett Packard because the work force in El Paso can not support companies that require an educated skilled work force to operate their busuness. Western Refinery is one of only a few companies that provide excellent jobs and pay for highly skilled workers. Call service centers provide jobs for El Pasoans but not the jobs that you can call career, long term jobs that once were available. Levi Srauss, Farah, Zork Hardware, Mine & Smelter Supply, Nichol's Copper, White House, Popular Dry Goods, Momsen-Dunnegan & Ryan, Hortex Maunufactiring are all long gone. Jobs that provide a future retirement are what is lacking in El Paso and most of the country. Hopefully some day this will become a reality.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Robert Breton

El Paso is not destined for any high rise buildings since no large corporation will ever choose El Paso for it's corporate headquarters. The El Paso Natural Gas Company which started here in 1928 was a great asset to El Paso. Sadly at the whim of the idiot running the company the decision to move the company to Houston was carried out. This ended all the good paying jobs that EPNG had provided for years devastating long time employees and their families.El Paso will never attract corporations like Intel,Dell, Hewlett Packard because the work force in El Paso can not support companies that require an educated skilled work force to operate their busuness. Western Refinery is one of only a few companies that provide excellent jobs and pay for highly skilled workers. Call service centers provide jobs for El Pasoans but not the jobs that you can call career, long term jobs that once were available. Levi Srauss, Farah, Zork Hardware, Mine & Smelter Supply, Nichol's Copper, White House, Popular Dry Goods, Momsen-Dunnegan & Ryan, Hortex Maunufactiring are all long gone. Jobs that provide a future retirement are what is lacking in El Paso and most of the country. Hopefully some day this will become a reality.

I tend to think you are right. I read somewhere once that in the 1950s the average wage in El Paso was actually slightly higher than the national average. We had more big name businesses, more a variety of stores before, our downtown had more going for it in the past. We're more and more left with some national chains is all, more and more low-paying jobs.

Even the amusement park here isn't what it used to be, getting people to bypass the malls to go shop downtown isn't likely. I think if they would have put their new medical school and hospital downtown, it would be something. The other problem I think is that part of what our old downtown had going was you could walk over to another country, tourists like doing that, but El Paso shoppers did also. With the violence in Juarez, that's not something a lot of people will want to do.

[Six Foot Three]

Originally Posted by Robert Breton

El Paso is not destined for any high rise buildings since no large corporation will ever choose El Paso for it's corporate headquarters.

You don't necessarily need a corporation to build High rises Robert.....Up here in Albuquerque there are plans for 2 twin 30 story High Rises that are purely Condos and in Jacksonville Fl they are already building several 40 story High Rises on the south bank of the river in the downtown there and plans for a 52and 60 story Condo towers there in the downtown in Jacksonville.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Well were talking about El Paso's skycrapers, and it's always nice to hear how other cities can easily put up not one or two but several skycrapers that even Emeryville California, population, less than 8 thousand people, also has a hand full of them and some pretty talls ones for a very small town.

El Paso seems to be in a jinx when it comes to building highrises. hmm!

[imaterry78259]

Originally Posted by HIGH!Lonesome

Well were talking about El Paso's skycrapers, and it's always nice to hear how other cities can easily put up not one or two but several skycrapers that even Emeryville California, population, less than 8 thousand people, also has a hand full of them and some pretty talls ones for a very small town.

El Paso seems to be in a jinx when it comes to building highrises. hmm!

So is San Antonio, and look how large it is, the same could be said for Phoenix

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

So is San Antonio, and look how large it is, the same could be said for Phoenix

Yeah your right about that, both San Antonio and Phoenix dont have spontanious skylines, yet I would say that Phoenix is kinda neat based on that their buildings are altra modern, and San Antonio has some old buildings like El Paso has those nice old gems designed by Henry Trost, yet no Manhattans for the three cities.

[finmqa1]

Originally Posted by HIGH!Lonesome

Well were talking about El Paso's skycrapers, and it's always nice to hear how other cities can easily put up not one or two but several skycrapers that even Emeryville California, population, less than 8 thousand people, also has a hand full of them and some pretty talls ones for a very small town.

El Paso seems to be in a jinx when it comes to building highrises. hmm!

It's not just El Paso with the jinx, Colorado Springs, ABQ, Tucson, Salt Lake, and Boise. I think the difference in these cities, is the mountains and valleys are what make them beautiful, not necessarily steel and glass highrises. The other factor is land is still somewhat cheap in these areas, so there is no reason yet to build up. I'm all for highrises, and I hope ABQ builds the proposed towers, I just think we have to be patient and it will happen eventually. In fact Vegas didn't have that many until the cost of an acre of land hit $5 to $10 million. At that point you have to build up to recoup your cost of land.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Originally Posted by finmqa1

It's not just El Paso with the jinx, Colorado Springs, ABQ, Tucson, Salt Lake, and Boise. I think the difference in these cities, is the mountains and valleys are what make them beautiful, not necessarily steel and glass highrises. The other factor is land is still somewhat cheap in these areas, so there is no reason yet to build up. I'm all for highrises, and I hope ABQ builds the proposed towers, I just think we have to be patient and it will happen eventually. In fact Vegas didn't have that many until the cost of an acre of land hit $5 to $10 million. At that point you have to build up to recoup your cost of land.

Thats a good point, yet every city you mentioned has built or is currently building something, El Paso is building a new federal court house, finally something of any notable significants, last time they built something in downtown El Paso was in 1992, the county courthouse, and Albuquerque introduces a new highrise to it's skyline every year.

I agree with the mountains as a backdrop to each one of these cities you mentioned including El Paso it makes the skyline standout or it highlights the cities downtown area, since El Paso's skyline is wedged between two mountain ranges, I guess that makes up for the would be missing alternitives.

When I was station in Jacksonville Florida, you coul'nt see downtown Jacksonville from almost any part of Duval county, it is all covered in forrest and the terrain including the tree filled landscape is flat, really dull or lame scenery.