Next Midwest City To Build A Tower Over 700' Tall

[Steely Dan]

^ still better to see that plot of a land as a 440' tall office tower than a stupid surface parking lot, but yeah, i remember when Hines closed on that property a year ago or so there was a small glimmer of hope for something taller, given that it was Hines driving the car.

oh well, new commercial office development of any kind in the age of WFH/hybrid is always a most welcome sign for any downtown.

[mrnyc]

although they do fret about downtown, and rightly so, columbus never seems to care about having a tall building.

and my guess is that’s just the kind of attitude that will get one sprung on them someday soon.

given this new superconductor chip factory, among other growth, i would be more concerned they get rail service in gear.

[Jasoncw]

Completely non-scientific but I went with Detroit, although it could be any city.

Detroit has a shortage of office space downtown. Which might have changed with the pandemic, but recently a new office building was announced so maybe not.

Dan Gilbert is rich, uses personal connections to get companies into his buildings, and has his own companies that need a lot of space. His Monroe block project, an office skyscraper, was paused. Someone on the internet has speculated that Monroe will actually be his legacy project and not Hudson's. It doesn't seem that implausible to me that it gets reworked to be the tallest in the city.

So in Detroit there might be the right combination of rational basis, vanity, and money, to do it.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Jasoncw

Someone on the internet has speculated that Monroe will actually be his legacy project and not Hudson's. It doesn't seem that implausible to me that it gets reworked to be the tallest in the city.

well, that sure would be a fun little curve-ball!

<fingers crossed>

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

although they do fret about downtown, and rightly so, columbus never seems to care about having a tall building.

and my guess is that’s just the kind of attitude that will get one sprung on them someday soon.

given this new superconductor chip factory, among other growth, i would be more concerned they get rail service in gear.

I don't know if there's demand yet, or if there will ever be? I love Columbus but its still got an awful lot of flat land that it apparently wants to gobble up for suburban development.

It's probably just me and my fucked up way of thinking, but Columbus in some ways feels like a hybrid of Midwest and Sunbelt, if that makes any sense? Its got great bones, but its growth spurts really took off in the latter half of the 20th Century while Cincinnati and Cleveland were struggling with population loss and economic stagnation

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

It's probably just me and my fucked up way of thinking, but Columbus in some ways feels like a hybrid of Midwest and Sunbelt, if that makes any sense? Its got great bones, but its growth spurts really took off in the latter half of the 20th Century while Cincinnati and Cleveland were struggling with population loss and economic stagnation

at the municipal level, the fact that columbus was able to strategically annex over 180 sq. miles of land into the city proper in the post-war period, while cincy and cleveland annexed very little, plays a big role in columbus's impression as a "midwest success story".

but at the MSA level, columbus has also outpaced the midwest urban growth average, so it's also not exclusively an annexation story.



unfortunately for columbus, metro area population growth is not directly correlated with skyscraper construction, as the graph below demonstrates.

columbus, indianapolis, and KC have seen some of the healthiest MSA growth numbers out of the major midwest MSAs over the past handful of decades, but not a single tower over 150m (~500 ft.) has been built in any of them since 1990!

meanwhile, in staganant rustbelters like milwaukee, detroit, and cleveland......

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

but at the MSA level, columbus has also outpaced the midwest urban growth average, so it's also not exclusively an annexation story.

Oh absolutely. I didn't want to state that annexation is the only reason why Columbus is growing. Its got an economic base most other cities would kill for.

[Steely Dan]

Well, now that Mutual of Omaha have unveiled the final design for their new HQ tower in Omaha (677' | 44 floors), we can now officially lay to rest that hope for the next midwest 700 footer (outside of Chicago).

Another "close, but no cigar" contender falls just short. unfortunately, the 3+ decade long wait will continue......



but on the plus side, at least the midwest (outside of Chicago) is seeing its most active period of 500+ footer construction in over 30 years:

1. Detroit - Hudson Tower - 685' - U/C
   
   
2. Omaha - Mutual of Omaha HQ - 677' - proposed
   
   
3. Cleveland - Sherwin-Williams HQ - 616' - U/C
   
   
4. Milwaukee - Northwest Mutual HQ - 550' - completed 2017
   
   
5. Minneapolis - Eleven - 550' - completed 2022
   
   
6. Milwaukee - The Couture - 537' - U/C
   
   
7. Minneapolis - RBC Gateway - 519' - completed 2022

[Klippenstein]

^ Here's what it's supposed to look like.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Oh absolutely. I didn't want to state that annexation is the only reason why Columbus is growing. Its got an economic base most other cities would kill for.

Not only had the metro area outpaced, but with those 2021 numbers we can say the urban area did as well.

[MolsonExport]

I've never thought of Omaha as part of the "Midwest". Wow, that is an expansive geographical area. I guess "Great Plains" is not a separate area?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I've never thought of Omaha as part of the "Midwest". Wow, that is an expansive geographical area. I guess "Great Plains" is not a separate area?

I'm just using the CB's definitions of the 4 main macro-regions here for convention's sake.

the great plains states and the great lakes states form sub-regions within the "midwest".




source: wikipedia

[lio45]

Aren’t Delaware and Maryland closer to being Mid-Atlantic than Southern?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by lio45

Aren’t Delaware and Maryland closer to being Mid-Atlantic than Southern?

many would argue that's true in 2022.

the CB is just using the old mason-dixon line divide between north and south.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Well, now that Mutual of Omaha have unveiled the final design for their new HQ tower in Omaha (677' | 44 floors), we can now officially lay to rest that hope for the next midwest 700 footer (outside of Chicago).

Another "close, but no cigar" contender falls just short. unfortunately, the 3+ decade long wait will continue......



but on the plus side, at least the midwest (outside of Chicago) is seeing its most active period of 500+ footer construction in over 30 years:

1. Detroit - Hudson Tower - 685' - U/C
   
   
2. Omaha - Mutual of Omaha HQ - 677' - proposed
   
   
3. Cleveland - Sherwin-Williams HQ - 616' - U/C
   
   
4. Milwaukee - Northwest Mutual HQ - 550' - completed 2017
   
   
5. Minneapolis - Eleven - 550' - completed 2022
   
   
6. Milwaukee - The Couture - 537' - U/C
   
   
7. Minneapolis - RBC Gateway - 519' - completed 2022

Detroit also has Monroe Block planned at over 500'. They got a variance from the city for the height a couple years ago. But I wouldn't expect construction to start until 2024 at earliest.

[Steely Dan]

^ i left the monroe block project off the list because the plans for it still seem a little too "unsettled" at this point in time.

but it'd be great to see detroit add another big tower to its skyline. fingers crossed.

[Six Corners]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I've never thought of Omaha as part of the "Midwest". Wow, that is an expansive geographical area. I guess "Great Plains" is not a separate area?

As a native Omahan, we've always considered ourselves part of the midwest, but Steely's right that within the midwest we are in the Great Plains subregion.

[DCReid]

Probably just a vision at this stage, but this is a render on what could be built in Milwaukee when they replace the I-794 stretch near downtown. It seems like one building would be at least 700 feet:

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwauke...Pos=1#cxrecs_s

[Innsertnamehere]

that's totally a vision, but an excellent one. I794 is a great candidate for demolition in my opinion as it isn't really all that useful and doesn't really go anywhere.

[Steely Dan]

^ yeah, definitely just a vision, and a pretty freaking cool one!


Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/milwauke...Pos=1#cxrecs_s



Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/milwauke...Pos=1#cxrecs_s



I'd love to see the 794 connector obliterated. An at-grade boulevard should be more than sufficient to connect 94/43 to the hoan bridge.

Probably won't happen though.