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.
I think Jersey City would look really cool with a supertall. Newark? Eh. Something about the look of tall buildings on the river (or other water - I like the look of AC for this reason) really gets me.
Newark (a/k/a the "Paradise on the Passaic") is on a river.
Newark (a/k/a the "Paradise on the Passaic") is on a river.
I know, but the Hudson is wider. Seeing the Manhattan skyline from it or across it, the buildings right on the river, is an amazing sight. Seeing Jersey City from the water or Manhattan is also pretty impressive.
The way to build up a city and build cohesive neighborhoods and city life is with a large number of high-density, low- to mid-rise buildings. Skyscrapers come in later to accentuate the skyline once the underlying vibrancy is there.
So while a supertall would put these cities "on the map," they would not necessarily do anything else for the cities and might end up simply being isolated towers.
If one is built, I would say put it in JC. If JC and Brooklyn have better skylines in the future, that will be quite the sight to behold looking north from say the SI Ferry with JC....Lower Manhattan....Brooklyn from left to right.
I think Newark has a better chance of getting a supertall. Prudential is moving all of their offices to Newark now, and, Architect Richard Meier is starting this SoMA Newark project that will include several skyscrapers, one being over 1000ft. Jersey City has some new skyscrapers coming up too so I would say yes, they should get Supertalls.
Prudential is moving all of their offices to Newark now,
That is not true. Some people from other offices may be moving to Newark, but not everyone.
As far as a city needing a "super tall" skyscraper...only if there is such a demand for office space that a large skyscraper would be needed. The last thing any city needs is a large building with vacant space.
No city needs it...
even in New York City it does not make economic sense to build towers over 900 feet. The Empire State Building never made a profit and neither did the World Trade Center. The Twin towers would never be built by any company trying to earn a profit. They were built by a government agency and used fees from tolls to keep from going bankrupt. The Port Authority lost millions of dollars every year and were never able to find tenants to fully occupy the World Trade Center.
any firm attempting to build a skyscraper over 500 feet would have trouble obtaining financing in Jersey City or Newark.
Goldman built the tallest building in New Jersey on the waterfront in Jersey City, thanks to generous tax breaks by the city and promises to hire people from Jersey City....I doubt the city will give a similar deal to anyone now that Goldman never lived up to their promises. The owners of the land a block up from Goldman could not obtain financing to build a 400 foot tower, thus they built a 12 story building office building on the waterfront
Jersey City and Newark may not even need any 500 foot office towers , ket alone anything over 800 ft. It is very costly to build in New Jersey and the taxes keep increasing, so it is not an attractive location for tall office towers unless the city grants them major tax breaks. The New Mayor has decided to give tax abatements for developers in Journal square and they wisely decided to build tall Apartment buildings close to the Path.
Not to mention that these supertall projects end up costing taxpayers millions in the form of public infrastructure spending that goes along with the site preparation for such a large building.
It's not so much a matter of how tall a building is, but how much square footage it is. You could build a 50-story building or a 100-story building and have the same square footage (dependent on how wide the building is). What we don't need is tens of thousands of square feet of unused office space. Given the economy being the way it is, we certainly don't need more office space when we can't even fill the space we already have. It likely makes more sense to build apartments/condos. I read a story recently about an old high-rise office building in Hartford, CT that was vacant for years and is now being converted to luxury apartments.
LOL @ the reflexive resistance to investment in Newark from our suburban posters. Disgusting.
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.
