US skyscraper milestone: closing in on 100 towers over 800' tall

[Steely Dan]

here's an interesting thing i noticed about the timeline chart of US 800+ footers that i made earlier. look at the red box on the chart below highlighting the years 1982 - 1992. during that timeframe, a whopping 19 new 800+ footers were built in the US in 10 different cities, but only one of them was built in NYC! it was one of the biggest booms of such towers in the nation's history, with most of those cities building new tallest towers for themselves, but mighty NYC only ended up with 1, helmet jahn's 814' tall CitySpire. unexpected.

contrast that with today, when NYC has gone absolutely apeshit, owning the rest of the nation in terms of big tower construction.

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

here's an interesting thing i noticed about the timeline chart of US 800+ footers that i made earlier. look at the red box on the chart below highlighting the years 1982 - 1992. during that timeframe, a whopping 19 new 800+ footers were built in the US in 10 different cities, but only one of them was built in NYC! it was one of the biggest booms of such towers in the nation's history, with most of those cities building new tallest towers for themselves, but mighty NYC only ended up with 1, helmet jahn's 814' tall CitySpire. unexpected.

contrast that with today, when NYC has gone absolutely apeshit, owning the rest of the nation in terms of big tower construction.

I think at that time NYC was still reeling from the financial crisis and was struggling mightily with crime and homelessness. It rebounded significantly in the 90s thanks to Giuliani and the stock market boom.

Now it's continued to boom and it's basically the safest city in America (behind Des Moines and San Diego by just a hair).

[Steely Dan]

^ I hear what you're saying, but Chicago was arguably in even rougher shape back in the 80s and it still managed to get in on the nationwide orgy of big tower construction, erecting 4 of them.

It's probably just a statistical anomaly. I mean, NYC was still building scores of other highrises at the time, it's just that none of them crept over the 800' threshold, with one exception.

In all other eras, NYC has been large and in charge of big tower building in the US, but the 80s were the lone exception.

I mean, prior to the '80s tower boom, NYC had 10 800+ footers, Chicago had 5, and Pittsburgh, SF & LA each had 1 apiece. That was was it for the nation! Then shit went kinda crazy in the 80s, but the big tower craze largely bypassed NYC. I just find that interesting/unexpected.

[the urban politician]

Chicago will get its revenge on New York……..yes, it is plotting evilly as we speak

[Steely Dan]

^ chicago is certainly trying harder than any of the others to hang with NYC at the moment, but as i said earlier, NYC has gone full ape-shit mode when it comes to skyscraper construction.

the best chicago can hope for is to hold and solidify the #2 spot.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I think at that time NYC was still reeling from the financial crisis and was struggling mightily with crime and homelessness. It rebounded significantly in the 90s thanks to Giuliani and the stock market boom.

Now it's continued to boom and it's basically the safest city in America (behind Des Moines and San Diego by just a hair).

I don't think that's quite it. The 70s was New York's worst decade. The WTC was built to help revive the city's economy.

[left of center]

NYC is definitely in a league of its own! Chicago is absolutely not going to keep up, simply due to the fact that NYC is orders of magnitude bigger. But I think it's safe to say that we will hang on to 2nd place and keep our head start on the rest of the US, due to our size as well as the culture of high-rises that exists here.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ I hear what you're saying, but Chicago was arguably in even rougher shape back in the 80s and it still managed to get in on the nationwide orgy of big tower construction, erecting 4 of them.

It's probably just a statistical anomaly. I mean, NYC was still building scores of other highrises at the time, it's just that none of them crept over the 800' threshold, with one exception.

In all other eras, NYC has been large and in charge of big tower building in the US, but the 80s were the lone exception.

I mean, prior to the '80s tower boom, NYC had 10 800+ footers, Chicago had 5, and Pittsburgh, SF & LA each had 1 apiece. That was was it for the nation! Then shit went kinda crazy in the 80s, but the big tower craze largely bypassed NYC. I just find that interesting/unexpected.

I don’t think it’s that arguable that Chicago was in rougher shape than NYC during the 80s.

1980s NYC had a wealthy Manhattan, middle-class Queens and SI, gentrifying Brooklyn, and an impoverished Bronx. Whatever construction issues they were having were mostly political or coincidental.

1980s Chicago: To quote Apollo 13, “What have we got on the spacecraft, that’s good?” There’s the Gold Coast and not much else, declining outer ring neighborhoods, and half the neighborhoods are impoverished.

[thegoatman]

Originally Posted by left of center

NYC is definitely in a league of its own! Chicago is absolutely not going to keep up, simply due to the fact that NYC is orders of magnitude bigger. But I think it's safe to say that we will hang on to 2nd place and keep our head start on the rest of the US, due to our size as well as the culture of high-rises that exists here.

Yeah New York is unreal right now. They're absolutely blowing every city away construction wise maybe besides Toronto.

Chicago can definitely keep up to be #2 in the country tho.

[chris08876]

^^^^

Hudson County is also assisting (the unofficial 6th Borough)


For example, just a casual, very casual 8100 units. For Jersey City (Maps too)







All the other developments add up to a lot.

Here's a map of what's approved or under construction: Also note the development above is just one red dot.






Here's what's proposed:

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Chicago will get its revenge on New York……..yes, it is plotting evilly as we speak

lol, but in all seriousness the two are absolutely on the same team

I wish to see more healthy competition between the two, throw other US cities in there too, like LA or Houston etc.

Yeah New York is unreal right now. They're absolutely blowing every city away construction wise maybe besides Toronto.

Chicago can definitely keep up to be #2 in the country tho.

I'm surprised Chicago isn't booming more considering it has one of the fastest (or fastest) growing downtowns in the country

As far as Toronto goes it has a lot of catching up to do since it's always been way behind NY or Chicago as far as skyscrapers, so the construction there is overdo (perhaps that answers the first clause, Chicago already has one of the world's highest quantity of skyscrapers)

Not sure Toronto is matching NYC though, I'm too lazy to look up the stats so if someone else wants to, be my guest...

[ue]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ I hear what you're saying, but Chicago was arguably in even rougher shape back in the 80s and it still managed to get in on the nationwide orgy of big tower construction, erecting 4 of them.

It's probably just a statistical anomaly. I mean, NYC was still building scores of other highrises at the time, it's just that none of them crept over the 800' threshold, with one exception.

In all other eras, NYC has been large and in charge of big tower building in the US, but the 80s were the lone exception.

I mean, prior to the '80s tower boom, NYC had 10 800+ footers, Chicago had 5, and Pittsburgh, SF & LA each had 1 apiece. That was was it for the nation! Then shit went kinda crazy in the 80s, but the big tower craze largely bypassed NYC. I just find that interesting/unexpected.

It's interesting too because New York's skyline isn't really dominated by PoMo architecture of the '80s and '90s in a way pretty much every big American city is. Philadelphia to Atlanta to Seattle to Los Angeles to Dallas. Even Chicago arguably has more prominent PoMo. Until the Hudson Yards, new WTC, and skinny condos, New York's tallest were mostly pre-war skyscrapers and 1960s/70s modernist towers.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by chris08876

^^^^

Hudson County is also assisting (the unofficial 6th Borough)

Jersey City over the past 15 years has to be the most impressive highrise/skyscraper boom on Earth outside of mainland China. And maybe Dubai.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by ue

It's interesting too because New York's skyline isn't really dominated by PoMo architecture of the '80s and '90s in a way pretty much every big American city is. Philadelphia to Atlanta to Seattle to Los Angeles to Dallas. Even Chicago arguably has more prominent PoMo. Until the Hudson Yards, new WTC, and skinny condos, New York's tallest were mostly pre-war skyscrapers and 1960s/70s modernist towers.

Yeah, strictly in terms of top-end height and skyline-defining buildings, NYC largely missed out on the Po-Mo big tower boom compared to most other US cities. That said, NYC still has the largest collection of Po-Mo skyscrapers on the planet, by far. The city built 56 towers over 150m from 1980 -1995, it just didn't get many that were exceptionally tall (and in Manhattan, you need to go very tall to truly standout, skyline-wise)

Which is perhaps just as well because Chicago got 4 really tall "skyline presence" towers out of the Po-Mo boom, and while two of them are fairly good (Franklin Center and 2 Pru), the other two are complete duds (311 S Wacker and 900 N Michigan).

Thanks a lot, KPF

[ue]

^ Yeah, true. I was more talking about the upper end where towers are noticeable at the skyline-level. It's an interesting quirk of the city's skyline vis-a-vis other American big cities.

[Steely Dan]

With the tragic destruction of the WTC twins, NYC doesn't have any buildings from the 2nd half of the 20th century left among its 25 tallest buildings anymore (including U/C towers).

NYC's 25 tallest skyscrapers:

built pre-war: 4*
post-war - 2000: 0
post 2000: 21

(*) 70 Pine (#21) and 40 Wall (#24) will be almost certainly be knocked off the list soon.


Contrast that with Chicago, which still has a healthy amount of its 25 tallest from the 2nd half of the 20th century, due in large part to not having anything close to NYC's current insanity-laden supertall boom, and to not building anything extremely tall in the pre-war era.

Chicago's 25 tallest skyscrapers:

built pre-war: 0
post-war - 2000: 11
post 2000: 14

[WhipperSnapper]

Have you seen the bananas plan proposed by the Government of Ontario for the town of Richmond Hill north of Toronto?

https://www.engagehightech.ca/wp-content...OC-Open-House-Presentation_Dec9FINAL.pdf
Look at all those 80 storey towers on page 30

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

With the tragic destruction of the WTC twins, NYC doesn't have any buildings from the 2nd half of the 20th century left among its 25 tallest buildings anymore (including U/C towers).

NYC's 25 tallest skyscrapers:

built pre-war: 4*
post-war - 2000: 0
post 2000: 21

(*) 70 Pine (#21) and 40 Wall (#24) will be almost certainly be knocked off the list soon.


Contrast that with Chicago, which still has a healthy amount of its 25 tallest from the 2nd half of the 20th century, due in large part to not having anything close to NYC's current insanity-laden supertall boom, and to not building anything extremely tall in the pre-war era.

Chicago's 25 tallest skyscrapers:

built pre-war: 0
post-war - 2000: 11
post 2000: 14

It seems odd, but NYC building boom impact after WTC tragedy seems to be opposite of what was expected. I recall reading and hearing comments that no one would want to work or live in very tall buildings. The WTC were the only 1000 roof height buildings NYC had even built after the 1930s boom, yet Chicago had built 3 and was generally building taller up to that point, even if Chicago was building fewer. But if you look at the 20 NYC tallest buildings now, all except the ESB and Chrysler are after that WTC destruction date.

[softee]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

As far as Toronto goes it has a lot of catching up to do since it's always been way behind NY or Chicago as far as skyscrapers, so the construction there is overdo (perhaps that answers the first clause, Chicago already has one of the world's highest quantity of skyscrapers)

Not sure Toronto is matching NYC though, I'm too lazy to look up the stats so if someone else wants to, be my guest...

There are 78 completed buildings of 150M+ and another 35 under construction.

There are another 129 towers of 150M+ proposed.

2 of those U/C buildings are supertalls, with several more proposed.

[C.]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Have you seen the bananas plan proposed by the Government of Ontario for the town of Richmond Hill north of Toronto?

https://www.engagehightech.ca/wp-content...OC-Open-House-Presentation_Dec9FINAL.pdf
Look at all those 80 storey towers on page 30

That is really something... I calculate density FAR of 10.45 assuming the parkland number makes up 27% of the site.





The city of.... Richmond Hill, Ontario enters the North American skyscraper race?!?