Lakeport City, MN

[Codster121]

Originally Posted by Patrick

Codster121, I'm really hoping you've continued with Lakeport City. I'm just now seeing this update and I'm please to see how much the city has grown! I'm curious to see how the Lincoln Center turned out and I'm even more excited to see how Lakeport transformed during 1980's. Really hoping to see some awesome postmodern buildings like the ones in Minneapolis! I was going to comment on the abundance of empty lots but seeing how this is the 1970's, it's actually a pretty accurate reflection of the large scale urban renewal happening across the country at the time.

Anyways, I hope you've worked on Lakeport since your last post, while this sub forum has seen busier days, I'm sure many of us, including myself, have been lurking and checking for updates. Also, I'm very flattered that the Westport Center was based off of One Galcorp Plaza. Feel free to put in a Galcorp midwestern headquarters in Lakeport.

Patrick, i am glad to see you are back and working on Staunton again, i am still working on Lakeport, and i do plan to add many new postmodern buildings, most of the new development will be around I-235 and the riverfront, Mansions will be built around Eagle Lake. How tall do you think i should make the new Galcorp midwestern Headquarters?

I am in the process of optimizing the city, because it has become quite slow, mainly because the sidewalks are extruded, and i am flattening most of the roads.

Lakeport Skyline from Eagle Lake, May 3rd 1978. (Actual update soon.)


Here is a map of the city so far, within it's border.

[Patrick]

Looking forward to seeing the 1980's postmodern boom! Is that a new tallest I see? The massing reminds me of the Capella Tower in Minneapolis, one of my favorites! Postmodernism is my all time favorite architectural style, it's difficult for me to find a building built in that era that I don't like, no matter how tacky!

As for Galcorp, I've always envisioned it as the world's largest corporate conglomerate with ties in pretty much every industry (GalOil, GalAirlines, GalFinancial, GalFoods) and lobbyists on both sides of the political fence, all ran by the ultra wealthy Staunton-based Galviston family. Their signature buildings are all known for being imposing and are usually black boxes. I've been thinking of recladding Staunton's Galcorp World Headquarters but I'm still on the fence about that. With that being said, I'm excited to see Galcorp's Midwestern Headquarters!

[Codster121]

That capella-like tower is 770ft and is home to the Galileo Corporation.

Also, i am currently reconstructing the entire road network and building new highways for Lakeport, but i have built a few new blocks of buildings for the next update.

I posted this picture because i want to know what you guys think of this before i add it to Lakeport.
The eastern shore of Superior River will be quite industrious, with a large rail yard surrounded by factories and warehouses.

[Patrick]

The rail yard looks good! However weren't you saying the model was getting slow because of the detail? Perhaps it would be better to leave the yard as a texture since we probably won't be seeing much of it? Looking forward to the final result!

[Codster121]

Those trains are deceptive. They are very low poly, and use projected google maps textures. The trains will be uploaded to the 3D Warehouse when i finish them, like the grain, gondola and flatbed cars.

[Vellu]

Very good job on the low-poly trains! They will be great props for the city.

The skyline looks really nice.

[Codster121]

Lakeport 1992 - Lakeport is back. (I am still working on the railyard, which will have an intermodal terminal, and a few logistics centers surrounding it.)

On to the update:


The extensive skyscraper construction boom ended in 1991, developers soon realized there was little demand for so much commercial real estate, as a result no commercial buildings over 100ft would break ground until mid-2000, though the mid to late 90s saw the addition of both low-rise and mid-rise residential and commercial developments. Though on the opposite side of the river, there a proposals for an intermodal rail hub, connected to the intermodal port to be built.
The city's population fell 15% from 380,000 to 323,000 between 1989 and 1994.
Lakeport's population estimate was 361,000 in 1990. The city will stay around this population until 2018.

Images of the newly finished GALcorp Midwest Branch HQ, both buildings are over 900' tall completed in 1990

GALcorp Midwest from above, 1 GALcorp is the tallest in the entire city at 1,014', while 2 GALcorp follows directly behind at 914'.


Liberty Bank Tower and Galilei Aerospace HQ completed in 1989 and 1990
Both towers are the 4th and 3rd tallest respectively, standing at 745' and 761'. (buildings are based on the Wells Fargo Center, and Capella tower, both from Minneapolis)


Lakeport, St Louis County Courthouse (1984) and City Hall buildings (1928).


Goldspire Tower completed in 1928, standing at 460'


Weazel News, completed in November 1988, standing at 630'


Chandler Automotive Headquarters, 189' to roof, 257' to tip, built in 1919, one of the tallest buildings in the city at the time.


Nanosoft Center, completed in 1992, it is one of the newest buildings in the city. And at 670' it stands as the 5th tallest in the city.

[rgarri4]

Good stuff! Hoping to see some new construction to bring some new variety to the 90s skyline.

[Vellu]

There are some really nice post-modern towers in the city. And the skyline looks good!

[Codster121]

Lakeport City 1996 (more screenshots will be added either to this post or to a new one) Once i reach the year 2000 I plan to do updates in 5 year intervals until the year 2160, i will probably start a new thread for a new city. I have been thinking about making a Japanese city of about 100,000 residents.

{{NOTE: Currently tower 1 of the now canceled City Center Development project, which is the tallest tower in the image, is located on the block that the new tower will be built, the tower will be under construction in the next update, as well as the new Liberty Bank center and Gallileo Tower redesigns, which began reconstruction in 1994)
All existing buildings in Lakeport that are replicas of real world buildings will be redesigned, to give a bit more uniqueness to Lakeport.
The road layout is being worked on, mostly the highway system.}}

Update Description (will be migrated to redone 1996 Update Post):
The Navajo Oil Company plans to begin construction of a new tower next to the GALcorp Midwest HQ, scheduled to break ground in May 1996, and expected to be complete by December 1998.

The Weazel News building was sold to the Lakeport Media Corporation in 1993, which took the logo off their building.

Nanosoft began plans to build a new office complex in northern downtown by 2002, and currently leases additional space in neighboring buildings to its current headquarters, the old building will be mostly vacant.

Liberty Bank Center and Gallileo Towers have major structural issues, the companies that occupy both buildings are filing lawsuits against the contracting company responsible for construction of both buildings.
Both companies are looking to a new contractor and developer for the redevelopment of their respective buildings, Opus Developments, which will own a small 10 story tower next to its new construction yard in the western industrial district, with a car scrapyard located nearby under the bridge. Opus Developments was founded in 1985, and eventually will grow to become a major developer in the midwest.

The St Louis County Courthouse became the Lakeport Federal Courthouse after its renovation in 1994, the county hearings were held at City Hall until the completion of the new 22 story Lakeport County Government Building which will be completed in 2001.

[WibblyWobbly]

Originally Posted by Patrick

Looking forward to seeing the 1980's postmodern boom! Is that a new tallest I see? The massing reminds me of the Capella Tower in Minneapolis, one of my favorites! Postmodernism is my all time favorite architectural style, it's difficult for me to find a building built in that era that I don't like, no matter how tacky!

YOU AND ME BOTH! People truly despise that movement, but I think it created some of the greatest most triumphant towers on earth. Bank of America tower, Atlanta, 101 Collins St & Anz World Headquarters, Melbourne, Liberty Place in Philadelphia, Williams Tower in Houston, Aurora Place, Brisbane, The Messeturm...the list goes on...

[Codster121]

Lakeport City, 1998, May 2022 Update
Some buildings were removed to make room for new designs or didn't fit with the 1990s timeline. All of the city's 20th century towers have been completed.
Development of the city will be slow during the 2000s, but will have a massive boom in skyscraper growth in the 2010s and 2020s. I plan to keep building the city to at least 2050, though it may continue further in the future than that.
I am working on a side project for Lakeport to show the city as it looked during different eras that is using layers in SketchUp.


The Navajo Oil HQ broke ground in May 1996, and opened in January 1999 after a few construction delays, the tower topped out in May 1998, and is 900ft (274m) tall. It remained the third tallest building until 2018.
The building is across the street from GALcorp Midwest HQ.



The Lakeport Media Corporation bought One WN Plaza and then under construction Two WN Plaza, the complex was renamed to LMC Plaza. (Image was changed because it was of the wrong buildings):

LMC Plaza 3 will stand at 950ft if passed, construction will begin in 2004

Nanosoft plans to build a new office complex in northern downtown by 2006.
Nanosoft Headquarters as of 1998:


The Liberty Bank Center and Galileo Towers had major structural issues, the companies that occupy both buildings are filing lawsuits against the contracting company responsible for construction of both buildings.
Both buildings were demolished because it was cheaper to build entirely new buildings, those buildings finished construction in May of 1997.
Liberty Bank Center and Galileo Tower:


The St Louis County Courthouse became the Lakeport Federal Courthouse after its renovation in 1990, the county hearings were held at City Hall until the completion of the new Lakeport County Government Building finished construction in May 1995.
Lakeport County was established for the Lakeport Metro area.
Federal Courthouse:

The new Lakeport County Government Building:


The Hannson building, despite being a historic landmark was demolished for a luxury condo and hotel that never began construction due to lawsuits which caused the developer to go bankrupt.

The small grey skyscraper on the same block is being targeted for demolition by a new developer who wants to build a supertall mixed use tower on the site. The city has not approved the demolition yet.
There is a 600ft tall building early into construction in the image as well.

[Skydragon42]

Interesting city and buildings.

[JHoward88]

It's nice to see folks still doing some Sketchup Cities! Sketchup was a life changing tool/hobby for me more than a decade ago, and despite having moved on to other things like Cities: Skylines since that time, there is/was always something incredibly special about drawing a city 100% by hand. Good work here.

[Codster121]

Lakeport Status Update:

I am not currently able to access Lakeport or any of my other models, textures, or anything else from the drive they are on.

My external hard drive has severe issues and/or something prevents me from even accessing the drive, it is not plugged in because it may be a physical issue, like the head crashing onto the platter, but I hope it's just a software issue, and not a physical one.

Hopefully I'll be able to recover it, but I'm waiting to purchase both a new external hard drive or SSD, and data recovery software.

[Update Edit: Expensive software purchase unnecessary, software issue, partition is intact, I managed to regain access to my data from my external hard drive.
I'll probably buy a higher capacity (2TB) external drive though.

I'll be able to post updates to Lakeport and share more SketchUp cities in the near future.]

[Apey]

Originally Posted by Codster121

Lakeport Status Update:

I am not currently able to access Lakeport or any of my other models, textures, or anything else from the drive they are on.

My external hard drive has severe issues and/or something prevents me from even accessing the drive, it is not plugged in because it may be a physical issue, like the head crashing onto the platter, but I hope it's just a software issue, and not a physical one.

Hopefully I'll be able to recover it, but I'm waiting to purchase both a new external hard drive or SSD, and data recovery software.

[Update Edit: Expensive software purchase unnecessary, software issue, partition is intact, I managed to regain access to my data from my external hard drive.
I'll probably buy a higher capacity (2TB) external drive though.

I'll be able to post updates to Lakeport and share more SketchUp cities in the near future.]

Glad to hear it was a software issue, look forward to seeing more SketchUp's from you in the near future!