^my opinion...NIMBYs!! :hell:

Well it could be NIMBYs or it could be local governments. For example take Plano Texas (Metro Dallas) or Irving, Arlington etc. Then look at Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, and Chula Vista. Do they have different zoning or restrictions on highrises built into their local charters or laws that the Texas cities don't??

i think its partly because of the types of industry in san diego and requirements in office space

^^ There is anti-development sentiment throughout the SD metro area, but I think the root problem is that there just aren't that many companies (a.k.a. demand) for commercial development. Downtown...North County...Mission Valley...anywhere.

If you look at any big metro like Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Denver, there are numerous skyscraper districts. Looking at Dallas specifically (because that's the place I am most familiar with), the areas of Las Colinas, Uptown, Park Central, North Central Expressway, Addison, Richardson, Frisco, Preston Center, North Irving, Galleria (just to name a few) all have at least as much commerical space as San Diego's Sorrento Valley/UTC area.

Still this is a metro area of 3.5 million people (including Temecula/Murrieta) so those people must work for some *company* So look at Denver it is a smaller metro area then SD. Is it because they have more big corporate employers like oil companies??

Is the San Diego economy more small business and tourist based versus large corporate economies that drive Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, etc...

The question is this: are there certain kinds of companies that are much more likely to be housed in vertical office space??

eburress: do you have photos of those different districts in Dallas??

yes, SD has a TON of science based industries, which doesnt require vertical space, but rather they need large laboratories to do all their studies, or manufacture their products etc....

Yes. The issue is a relative lack of big corporate employers.

Yes, we all know that certain kinds of companies are more likely to be housed in vertical office space, but it's not like San Diego is overflowing with low-rise office developments either...certainly not like a San Jose, Houston, or Dallas. There's not as much office space of any kind here.

Even so, like I said in my previous post, there's nowhere near the amount of such space as other places like Dallas, Denver, San Jose, etc.

BTW, our airport (or the lack thereof) is one of the things that will continue to limit the amount of corporate expansion here in San Diego.

^^^ Ok so then where does everyone work eburress??? I don't get it how can Denver which has far less people in its metro area have more "office space" then metro San Diego? Are you saying far more people work in hotels,restaurants, mom and pops, and funky strip malls here in SD then they do in Denver. Or is it that there are more military jobs and retirees here in San Diego?

Do you get what I'm saying. People need to have a job and usually that is in an *office*.

^all of our offices are in 3-6 story business parks smack dab in the middle of all the sprawl...its digusting...

Downtown for me. My front door to office door commute is 18 minutes from my Banker's Hill abode!

Here are a few I was able to dig up...Bill Cobb definitely had the best shots. Some of the others aren't very recent, but you get the picture.

Uptown:
http://www.dallassky.com/Uptown_2006.jpg


Turtle Creek (with Las Colinas in the distance):
http://www.dallassky.com/turtle_creek_towers.jpg

http://www.dallassky.com/p4-7.h3.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/kcphoto...allas_6683.JPG

Las Colinas:
http://photos.imageevent.com/kcphoto...allas_6857.JPG

http://urban-photos.com/webgraphics/dallas_6881.JPG


Stemmons:
http://www.dallassky.com/stemmons_freeway_skyline.jpg


Galleria/Dallas North Tollway:
http://www.oscarmail.net/dfwfreeways...11_ADJ_600.jpg

http://www.dallassky.com/galleria_skyline_2.jpg


Preston Center:
http://photos.imageevent.com/kcphoto...allas_6667.JPG


Richardson/Telecom Corridor:
http://www.dallassky.com/telecom_corridor.jpg


Addison:
http://photos.imageevent.com/kcphoto...allas_6629.JPG

North Central Expressway:
http://www.dallassky.com/north_central_1.jpg

Same area, different direction:
http://www.dallassky.com/north_central_expwy_2.jpg

I know what you mean, but unfortunately, I don't have any solid numbers to give you. Anecdotally, I'd say (guess) that many are in the military or tourism - and I also run into a LOT of people who don't work in a traditional office environment at all. They're either self-employed, wealthy, work remotely, or something funky like that. There are also a lot of retirees and there are a lot of people for which San Diego is not their primary residence.

eburess, I use to live in Denton. Do you have any pics of what that area looks like now?

This is the only photo of Denton I have!! hahaha :)

http://www.alicia-logic.com/capsimag..._007Denton.jpg

Seriously, it has been a few years since I've been there, but it was already on its way to becoming another huge suburb for Dallas and Ft. Worth like Plano, Frisco, McKinney, etc.



Edit --> For the record, I think it would be ideal for San Diego if the majority of their commercial development were downtown. I'm not saying SD should look like these other cities - I'm just surprised that it doesn't. :)

i used to live in downtown and i commuted to Rancho bernardo. then i moved to bankers hill and commuted to Rancho Bernardo. Now I live in Lakeside and I still commute up north. I'd rather work downtown, but it's not possible for me.

The last thing we need is suburban office towers. Developments like those in the picture are downtown killers. In OC we have no serious downtown. That is why we have those highrises spread through out the county. By the way the highrises are generally architecturally insignificant (aka boxy and boring). Lets keep the office highrises downtown with significant architecture. (IM PEI)

Keep in mind that San Diego has a lower population than Dallas, Atlanta, and Houston. If they have 50% more people, I'd expect them to have 50% more offices. Remember that San Diego has an extremely low office vacancy rate as many of the aforementioned cities do not. Many were overbuilt a number of years ago on speculation. It is also true that San Diego has a more unconventional workforce consisting of a large number of entrepreneurs. Anyone see the list of cities with the highest venture capital investments. San Diego was aprox #5 in the nation beating out many larger cities.

^^yeah, i did see that. thats one of the reasons i posted the article a few pages ago about rent prices for office space. low cap companies not being able to afford places like Downtown, UTC, & Sorrento push them towards the I-15 corridor and lower rent office space around the county.

I noticed in the recent population stats that San Diego county surpassed Orange County. SD County is now the 2nd most populous California county. Go figure.