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

[chris08876]

Just to add on to the office reference, the future may very well be in mixed-used. Combination of office + residential or office/residential/hospitality.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

not entirely.

NYC has seen the start of construction on 3 big office towers since the pandemic began, one of which, the new Chase HQ tower, is going to be 1,388' tall!

and there are proposals for at least a half dozen more office towers there currently on the boards.

The 241m CIBC Square II in Toronto just started this year as well with another 6 office proposals taller than 150m. So we'll have to see how that goes.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by The North One

We would have had so many more monster pre-war towers if it wasn't for the great depression. Or at least if the great depression had just held off a few more years.

yeah, ditto for chicago. the GD killed off some monster tower proposals from the late 1920s that would have been able to hang with some of the biggies in NYC at the time.


Crane Tower - 1,070'


source: http://www.connectingthewindycity.co...have-been.html




Apparel Mart - 845'


source: http://www.connectingthewindycity.co...have-been.html



Hollabird & Root Michigan Ave. tower proposal - unspecified height, but clearly very tall.


source: https://twitter.com/joshlipnik/statu...464005?lang=de




instead, the tallest pre-war building completed in chicago was the 605' tall CBoT buidling, which was still high enough for second tallest in the world outside of NYC at the time (after cleveland's terminal tower), but because of chicago's massive tower building boom in the post-war decades, it doesn't even rank among chicago's 50 tallest anymore (currently 54th). chicago's once mighty second largest in the pre-war world skyline is now mostly lost down in the weeds of its even mightier post-war skyline.

NYC was lucky to get some absolute pre-war monsters built like ESB and chrysler that still have some skyline presence today (though even that is now beginning to diminish a bit given NYC's ongoing super-tall boom).

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Crane Tower - 1,070'


source: http://www.connectingthewindycity.co...have-been.html

I love this one, that would have looked so incredible looming over Grant Park.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by The North One

I love this one, that would have looked so incredible looming over Grant Park.

totally.

instead we got E.D. Stone's modern classical take at pretty much the same location roughly 4 decades later.


source: https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/...ervation-deck/

[Labtec]

Over the past 10 years, Atlanta has built mostly midrises in midtown and densified over the surface parking lots:


(Blue = Built in last 10 years, Green = under construction, Orange = proposals).

The market is hot and there are a couple of proposals in the 800-foot range for downtown and midtown that hopefully will get financing.

A proposal for midtown:





Another for downtown:

[MolsonExport]

stacks by the shacks!

[plinko]

Don't sleep on Pittsburgh's pre-war skyline. I think there are (3-4) 300 footers that have now been torn down:


Source

[Steely Dan]

^pittsburgh is the #5 pre-war skyline for me. Much like Detroit, the outstandingness of it's top-end towers vaults it past SF, IMO.

1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. Detroit
4. Philly
5. Pittsburgh

[Zapatan]

How NYC and Chicago stack up to other Global Cities:

Keep in mind this excludes Jersey City for NY, otherwise it's damn close to Shenzhen, Hong Kong is way ahead for 150m buildings but falls way behind at the taller end, therefore there isn't really a clear winner for world's biggest skyline but it seems NY is certainly a contender. Chicago sorta too, to a lesser extent.

In any case, I really hope the US steps up its game outside of the two megacities as there are a decent amount of proposals in places like Seattle / LA / Philly / Austin / Miami etc...

Edit: I also forgot SF and Dallas have 800+ in the pipeline, we could easily have 100 250 meter buildings by roof alone in the next 10-20 years with all of these proposals, that's quite a feat though I don't think we could ever catch China.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

we could easily have 100 250 meter buildings by roof alone in the next 10-20 years with all of these proposals.

Considering the US built 31 new buildings over 250m between 2011 and 2021, with a further 9 currently U/C, it'll likely take a lot less than 10 - 20 years go get to 100.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^pittsburgh is the #5 pre-war skyline for me. Much like Detroit, the outstandingness if it's top-end towers vaults it past SF, IMO.

By the outbreak of WWII, San Francisco's pre-war skyline was pretty lackluster both in height and quality. The two tallest towers were both 435 ft.; one of them is a gorgeous terra-cotta gothic take on Art Deco, but the other is comparatively plain and uninspired. The next tallest was 328 ft. and, while refined, its massing makes it seem squat. SF's coolest pre-war tower was what is today called Central Tower, which was built in 1898 and at 315 ft., it was the tallest building in the West for a long time. It was most notable for featuring a baroque dome and corner cupolas, but in 1938 it was remuddled (and shortened to 298 ft.) into a very plain, deco-lite tower with nothing notable about the new look.

[SFBruin]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I think it's a reasonable statement. 2% transit share, for a major world city of nearly 8 million, is effectively zero transit.

I guess there's a distinction between little transit ridership and little transit infrastructure. DFW seems to have the former.

[tech12]

Originally Posted by craigs

By the outbreak of WWII, San Francisco's pre-war skyline was pretty lackluster both in height and quality. The two tallest towers were both 435 ft.; one of them is a gorgeous terra-cotta gothic take on Art Deco, but the other is comparatively plain and uninspired. The next tallest was 328 ft. and, while refined, its massing makes it seem squat. SF's coolest pre-war tower was what is today called Central Tower, which was built in 1898 and at 315 ft., it was the tallest building in the West for a long time. It was most notable for featuring a baroque dome and corner cupolas, but in 1938 it was remuddled (and shortened to 298 ft.) into a very plain, deco-lite tower with nothing notable about the new look.

There's also the Shell building, at 378 feet, built in 1929:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_...(San_Francisco)

It's a shame what they did to the Central Tower. I still like it, but the old look was way better.

[Steely Dan]

^ oh, the Shell Building is gorgeous!

Originally Posted by craigs

By the outbreak of WWII, San Francisco's pre-war skyline was pretty lackluster both in height and quality.

yeah, that's why i personally rank pittsburgh ahead of SF. SF might've had a little more overall bulk at the time, but pittsburgh's greater top-end height pushes it into the #5 spot for me.

and damn, what shame about what happened to SF's central tower, i had no idea

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by homebucket

SF should add another 2 to its tally shortly once Transbay Parcel F (806 ft) gets going early next year and when Oceanwide Center (910 ft) hopefully resumes. There's also that recent proposal for 50 Main Street (818 ft).

50 Main Street just got bumped up from 818 ft to 1066 ft. We'll see if this actually comes to fruition.

50 Main Street To Become Second Tallest Tower In San Francisco



BY: ANDREW NELSON 5:30 AM ON DECEMBER 15, 2021

Hines has announced that 50 Main Street will rise 1,066 feet tall, potentially becoming the second tallest structure in San Francisco. If built as proposed, the residential tower will be just four feet shorter than the Salesforce Tower. 50 Main Street, to be designed by Foster + Partners, is part of the 200 Mission Street campus, formerly the SoMa headquarters for PG&E.

Hines is proposing to redevelop the historic PG&E campus set in downtown San Francisco with offices, the multi-family tower with affordable housing, retail, and a porous ground-floor network of public open space and 1.25 acres for public parks. The newly designed block will reinvigorate an area in the city’s heart, immediately next to the Embarcadero BART Station. The project will be split between four components, including 50 Main Street, the reskinning of 77 Beale Street, refurbishing the historic office building along Market Street, and creating the ground-level network of parks and pathways.

50 Main Street will rise 85 floors to create nearly one million square feet, approximately 800 new rental apartments, of which a fifth will be offered as affordable housing. Initial plans show that parking will be included for 380 vehicles. Unit sizes will range from studios to two bedrooms. Amenities will be included on the top two floors, with retail at the base. Residents will be given excellent access to open-air with natural light between the shared amenities and access to the base level parks.

https://sfyimby.com/2021/12/50-main-...francisco.html

[Steely Dan]

^ nice, another potential supertall for SF!

and if oceanwide gets going again.... and if parcel F happens....

that'd build a pretty damn strong case for the #3 skyline nationally.

[The North One]

Isn't Oceanwide officially dead? Creditors own the project now.

[tech12]

Originally Posted by The North One

Isn't Oceanwide officially dead? Creditors own the project now.

Oceanwide is on hold.

The foundations are built, and it's right in the middle of downtown SF, so it wouldn't be surprising if they get completed one day.

[wwmiv]

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