Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
It's seldom outside forces making these decisions. Going taller doesn't always make financial sense.
You need more elevator shafts (costing you floorplate), you need stronger concrete, you have a longer construction period, you might need a tuned mass damper or additional frame stiffening. On most Chicago sites, the sweet spot seems to be between 40 and 50 stories.
Developers want to build and sell a project quickly and move on to another site, not see if they can squeeze in a few more floors for bragging rights before the next recession catches them out.
|
It's often that outside forces, like NIMBY's and alderman help to make and or force these decisions.
If more density and salable square footage were allowed, perhaps more financial sense could be made.
Developers may want to sell quickly, but the most time seems to be spent going the the bureaucracies of the approval process.
A number of developers have wanted to go taller than 40-50 floors, like the recent proposal for River North.