Next Midwest City To Build A Tower Over 700' Tall
 

Springboarding off the other thread about the south, I thought it'd be interesting to explore a similar issue for the Midwest.

Chicago is excluded here, for obvious reasons.

Outside of Chicago, there have been a total of 7 buildings over 700' tall built in the midwest - 3 in Minneapolis, 2 in Cleveland, and 1 each in Detroit and Indianapolis - but the last one was built nearly 3 decades ago now.

We all had high hopes that Detroit was gonna be next with the Hudson Tower project now U/C, but it will fall just shy of the mark at 680'.

So, which midwest city is most likely to build the first 700+ footer in the region (outside of Chicago) since 1992?

I'd say Cleveland. Minneapolis's tallest is as old as I am.

Columbus has the growth to start seeing some residential skyscrapers. They've seen an impressive amount of infill, but most of it has been low-rise so far. I could see a high-rise boom happening in C-bus soon, but not sure if it'd rise to 700 feet.

Cleveland's getting a new Sherwin Williams HQ, but I think it's expected to be more in the 500' range. They've had a couple residential towers go up too, and lots of historic conversions downtown. Not sure if they have the growth to justify a 700' residential tower, but the Cleveland region does appear to build taller than Columbus, despite Columbus growing much, much faster.

I can't decide. Cleveland somehow has a strange ability to build tall, and also Columbus seems like it's overdue for a big project. If Minneapolis builds something that tall it would have to be a hotel+residential but I don't see that happening any time soon. Indianapolis could surprise us.

You're also forgetting Grand Rapids, not that I think it could pull this off but it's a bigger city than Omaha and way bigger than Des Moines.

The latest we are hearing from people in Sherwin Williams is that the HQ tower will be the city's second or third tallest, which would put it over 700ft.

No idea honestly, but I'd hazard to guess it'd be in either Minneapolis, Columbus, Indianapolis or Cleveland if the Sherwin Williams HQ pans out.

It could be Milwaukee... especially if the Hiawatha improvements happen.

I only included Midwest cities in the poll that have at least one 600+ footer (I rounded up for St. Louis). It didn't have anything to do with population.

Grand Rapids tallest building is only 406' tall.

I think Minneapolis is most likely, but Detroit would be my second guess.

I mean Detroit got pretty close :haha:
But they're building a 680ft tower at Hudsons and a 500ft tower at Monroe blocks is being proposed so I could definitely see them build something over 700ft.

Cleveland is getting the new Sherwin Williams HQ where the downtown population has grown over 20% so they’re in a good position to get a tower over 700ft.

Minneapolis has been getting some new developments recently, the tallest of them being 547ft so they’re getting close but I don't think they will build 700ft+ for another couple of years.

Indianapolis is one of the fastest-growing cities in the US and is in a prime position to get new tall towers but so far they only have the PanAm project to look forward to and it ain't no 700 footer.

Columbus is getting some new proposals and a new tower is under constriction at the convention center but nothing close 700ft.

But If I've had to say I think it would be Cleveland or Detroit, most likely Cleveland

Hopefully, these cities get some new tall towers soon, but nothing taller than Chicago though ;)

Minneapolis has the healthiest overall market downtown for new urban high rises.

If Sherman Williams doesn’t pan out for Cleveland, Minneapolis would by my best guess. It’s the only city that really is regularly seeing large high rises going up.

Milwaukee has the influence of Chicago builders though too, and has quite a few tall buildings proposed right now. I could see them doing it too.

Minneapolis, but Milwaukee would be my next choice. It seems to be ripe for a really tall tower, probably mixed-use (residential and something else).

Yeah, figured at least based on economy/markets, Minneapolis makes the most sense, followed by a couple other cities that are kinda/sorta thriving right now or were before the pandemic (Cbus, Indy, [*insert your pet city here*])

I voted for Milwaukee. . . just because they need more buildings. . .

. . .

I refuse to vote in a poll that doesn't include Schaumburg as an option.

I voted for Milwaukee because they deserve one, dammit.

Though it might end up being somewhere unexpected, like St Paul or Toledo or Sheboygan or Wausau or Eau Claire or Superior because Superior is superior.

But the thing is building that tall in these cities is not really an economic necessity. It's about whoever has the money, the vision and the ego to build it and whatever city happens to get it. That's why this is so hard to predict and why a city like Cleveland gets a Key Tower, they certainly dont need it.

Right, this is all just pure speculation/opinion, except for maybe the SW headquarters in Cleveland?

I'm not familiar with some of the cities on the list but I went with Minneapolis.

Clayton, MO

If someone could revive the Bottle District proposal from many years back, maybe St. Louis could do it.

I would guess Minneapolis or Detroit.

I'm going with Detroit. Big Auto either gobbles up or out-competes Tesla and celebrate with a new office tower.