Quote:
Originally Posted by KevininPhx
You make statements like they are facts. That's not a fact. For years, people said that about Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and downtown NYC with the original World Trade Center. Those cities had extremely tall, mostly empty buildings surrounded by nothing. Which, over time, have filled up and surrounding them are hundreds of thousands of people, loads of towers and public transportation. If a developer built a 500-foot building right in downtown Phoenix, it would fill up and other buildings would go up around it. That's how it works.
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Somethingfast - my comment wasn't directed at you; essentially, my feeling is just that additional height on this thing wouldn't make it any less of a wasted opportunity.
Kevin - I think it's obvious by now to most people that my rants aren't facts.
The places you list have completely different built environments, different ways of life, and many other factors (stronger economies, natural city boundaries forcing vertical construction, etc.). I never said a 500-foot tower wouldn't fill up; I said that this particular tower built at 500+ feet wouldn't any more value to the city than it does in its current form. This tower has been built to isolate itself as much as possible from any interaction with the surrounding city, while also creating an entire block's worth of dead space. Downtown only benefits if those residents get out of their tower, walk the streets of downtown, purchase goods downtown, etc. This design is just pure shit in that regard. And, I disagree that one 500 foot tower would encourage additional developments of that size. If that were the case, why hasn't Chase inspired such projects in 30+ years? It's been a decade since OCPE and CityScape were announced... and not a single high-rise has been proposed outside of this RFP.
PHYFlyer11 - Tempe, a suburban college town, that has experienced rapid urban growth within the last decade or so, has made FAR fewer mistakes to the detriment of its downtown. Yes, there are a few projects that could've been better, but for the most part, each project within that time period has added new demographics to the city's population, jobs to its economy, and has filled in a hole somewhere within the urban fabric of the city. Phoenix has had decades to learn from their mistakes.. they even implemented Urban Form which specifically prohibits projects like this from being built. This isn't a small mistake; it's taking a valuable piece of land - land you admit is running out - and using the majority of it for parking.