NEW YORK | 432 Park Avenue (Drake Hotel dev.) | (1,396) FT / 432 M | 89 FLOORS

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by JustSomeGuyWho

.
Funny how these supertalls suddenly make the surrounding buildings seem so ... inadequate ... when so many of them could be the proud towering centerpiece of the downtown area for most other cities in the US.

If you're including the small cities yea, but cityspire for example wouldn't stand out too much in most major US cities aside from like DC or Phoenix etc.

I think this thing has actually passed 1000' already no?

[JustSomeGuyWho]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

If you're including the small cities yea, but cityspire for example wouldn't stand out too much in most major US cities aside from like DC or Phoenix etc.

I think this thing has actually passed 1000' already no?

I suppose it depends on how you define major US cities. If you are using CitySpire as an example (from all the other buildings in that picture), there are only 12 cities outside of New York with taller buildings:

Chicago
Cleveland
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Pittsburgh
Charlotte
Oklahoma City
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle

That leaves a whole bunch of other mid to large cities where CitySpire would be its tallest building.

Phoenix
San Antonio
San Diego
San Jose
Austin
Jacksonville
Columbus
Fort Worth
Detroit
El Paso
Memphis
Denver
Washington DC
Boston
Nashville
Baltimore
Louisville
Portland
Las Vegas

... just to round out the top 30 in population. Obviously many other cities as well.

Adding in a few more in the largest CSAs that don't make top 30 in population in city proper

Miami
Minneapolis
Orlando
St. Louis
Sacramento
Kansas City
Salt Lake City
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
Raleigh
New Orleans

etc....

"Completed" buildings taller than City Spire

New York (13)
Chicago (13)
Philadelphia (3)
Atlanta (3)
Houston (3)
Los Angeles (2)
Dallas (2)
Cleveland (1)
Indianapolis (1)
Pittsburgh (1)
Charlotte (1)
Oklahoma City (1)
San Francisco (1)
Seattle (1)

Obviously Chicago rocks.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by detroitmetro101

for so long, there seemed to be an unofficial, or perhaps official, height limit for midtown towers; with 432, hopefully that convention is shattered.

Unofficial. There are no height limits in Midtown, what limits the height is the FAR. The trick is to assemble enough development rights to build a tower large enough to reach great heights. In the case of the residential towers, it comes at a time when people are willing to pay great amounts for those high apartments, justifying the expense of assembling the expensive land, air rights, and construction of these supertall towers.

As far as the office towers go, again, no specific height limits. The vast amount of the NY office supply is dated, what you are seeing now is the beginning of a "turnover" of supply. As a global capital, and home to so many companies, New York needs a steady supply of new office space, the best to offer. That really hasn't been happening in the last 2 decades at the rate it should have. Adding to that, office towers are generally taller now than they were decades ago, a 30-story office tower built back then would be shorter than a 30-story tower today.

So when you add it all up, to truly stand out, a tower needs to be at least a supertall to just stand above the pack. It helps to be closer to the waterfront.

At half it's height, 432 Park wouldn't get the same prices for those upper floors.

Originally Posted by JustSomeGuyWho

I suppose it depends on how you define major US cities. If you are using CitySpire as an example (from all the other buildings in that picture), there are only 12 cities outside of New York with taller buildings:

Chicago
Cleveland
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Pittsburgh
Charlotte
Oklahoma City
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle

I can remember when Cityspire was the tallest residential in New York - wasn't really that long ago. But with the exception of Chicago, it would still stand out in those other cities.