Yes, our skyline is "boring".

[enigmadsm]

I will never understand the subborness and ressitance of some people. I was born and raised in Phoenix. I lived out in the burbs...I've since lived in various cities/states for the past 5 years and am approaching my return move to Phoenix next month.

IMO a lively downtown is drastically needed. We need an identifying core. NOT because Denver or Portland or Chicago has it....But because it would improve the lifestyle in the downtown region. I would love to be able to go to a sports game, or a concert hall downtown and have a place to relax, dine, bar hop etc. afterwards. It seems like there has been gradual improvements. the ASU campus, the light rail, 44 north etc....So we are on the right track. I don't think anyone is saying we should build a bunch of sears towers or empire state buildings downtown, or that we should build just to build. BUT that the people in charge should focus some energy on how to attract people to the downtown region.
I plan on moving back to the burbs, but again it would be much appreciated if I had a urban hub to venture off to a couple of nights a month to enjoy myself. It doesn't need to drastically change the cities make up, or steal money from the "burbs" and make them neglected. With the size of the Phoenix metro, in sheer population there is no reason that something like this couldn't happen. is driving 75+ miles from one side of the metro to the other not sprawl enough for you? do we need to extend to 100 miles/not even manageable before SOME type of urbanism is employed?

[Green Rey]

What city i would love to see grow is Tempe. Theres a lot of growth potential with business and urban living. I say build more highrises to attract more attention and break that flat boring apperance most cities have around the area. The thing with highrises is that they make the city look alive with all they lights and such. The stand out tall, thats what theyre fun and good for. Also represent the architect of the city and the economy as to when you see flat buildings all over with small businesses trying to grow INTO those highrise corporate buildings.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Green Rey

What city i would love to see grow is Tempe. Theres a lot of growth potential with business and urban living. I say build more highrises to attract more attention and break that flat boring apperance most cities have around the area. The thing with highrises is that they make the city look alive with all they lights and such. The stand out tall, thats what theyre fun and good for. Also represent the architect of the city and the economy as to when you see flat buildings all over with small businesses trying to grow INTO those highrise corporate buildings.

Disagree with this... Tempe has a very small downtown in area, and there was a huge uproar over the height of the West 6th buliding. Cramming more high rises in there? No. I don't see anything like that happening again, and wouldn't want to see it, even though none of that would be overlooking my back yard.

[FitnessPower]

Originally Posted by observer53

Disagree with this... Tempe has a very small downtown in area, and there was a huge uproar over the height of the West 6th buliding. Cramming more high rises in there? No. I don't see anything like that happening again, and wouldn't want to see it, even though none of that would be overlooking my back yard.

Like it or not there are about 5-10 new highrises expected to start going up in Tempe over the next couple years, most being Lake front which should be pleasing the the eye and hopefully help give Tempe some extra notary in National status.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by Green Rey

What city i would love to see grow is Tempe. Theres a lot of growth potential with business and urban living. I say build more highrises to attract more attention and break that flat boring apperance most cities have around the area. The thing with highrises is that they make the city look alive with all they lights and such. The stand out tall, thats what theyre fun and good for. Also represent the architect of the city and the economy as to when you see flat buildings all over with small businesses trying to grow INTO those highrise corporate buildings.

I agree with this. High rises provide the sense of development however false that may be. From a marketing standpoint, it does attract attention and provides the feeling of being in a larger city. This is one reason is often criticized for not being developed or sophisticated despite that criticism being utterly false. To many, the lack of skyscrapers suggest to some that we are not as developed as other cities.

Originally Posted by FitnessPower

Like it or not there are about 5-10 new highrises expected to start going up in Tempe over the next couple years, most being Lake front which should be pleasing the the eye and hopefully help give Tempe some extra notary in National status.

I'm also aware of this. Tempe seems to "get it" and are capitalizing on this trend. I see a lot of positive development headed Tempe's way due to this.

[asufan]

Yeah I think one developer is pushing for a 40 story tower near Mill and 5th St (Sky Tower). Of course projects like this are so capital intensive, deals can fall apart at the financing stage. Or this could be a case like a famous Phoenix developer whom I won't name that would propose these type of grand projects, get it in the news and have the rezoning done, only to raise the value of the land due to the new entitlements and try to spin it off to another developer to build (which never happened). Nevertheless, there will be more of this development in Tempe and the most vibrant downtown in Arizona is in Tempe, IMO. Several new projects are being wrapped up and others are poised to begin. I also like what is happening on Apache Blvd, with all of the new student housing and general public housing and transit oriented development.

[Mezter]

Though it's a little small for a city of over 4 million people, it's still a nice skyline. Skylines aren't everything though.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

I agree with this. High rises provide the sense of development however false that may be. From a marketing standpoint, it does attract attention and provides the feeling of being in a larger city. This is one reason is often criticized for not being developed or sophisticated despite that criticism being utterly false. To many, the lack of skyscrapers suggest to some that we are not as developed as other cities.

Highrises/tall skylines also demonstrate SUCCESS, and CAPITALISM for that matter. Not surprising that so many NIMBYs who are against highrises tend to be socialist, anti capitalist, and not very successful for that matter. Even though tall or dense skylines may give a false impression of a city in some cases, the fact is that the skyline is the first thing people see in a city, and first impressions mean a lot.

Tempe's downtown is moving in the right direction. It's too bad Phoenix's downtown basically remained stagnant ... or worse yet, the Central Corridor, which hasn't seen any new highrise development in many years. The light rail advocates were quick to claim that light rail would spur development. Nearly five years after operation started, it sure hasn't done much for development or revitalization along much of the route!

[Jnvlv247]

I have lived here for 6 years and 2 of them were in downtown phoenix. Over the years they have done SOOO much to the downtown. From the light rail to new buildings, etc.

I drove up South Mountain a few days ago and looked at the city and was surprised at how much of a downtown it looked like. It's not NYC or Chicago but that's what I love about it. It's a young city and has so much going for it and will expand. The skyline looks awesome when put against the backdrop of South Mountain as well. The central ave strip is very pretty and well done from what is was 10 years ago.

So all of you should make fun of Tucson for skyline