Originally Posted by KenPhoenix222
(Post 8964767)
For a City and Metropolitan Area the size of Phoenix, we seriously lack the quintessential, signature skyscraper exceeding 60 floors. Most large cities have many buildings over this size. I keep waiting for a major corporate relocation announcement or news of a major investment for such a tower, but it never comes. I realize that zoning plays a big part of that, especially in the Central Business District, along with associated restrictions imposed by FAA. However, the area to the north of Roosevelt, up to McDowell, between 7th Avenue and 7th Street - that zone, would be the perfect area for such new buildings. Also along Central Avenue to the north of McDowell. Essentially a "northern extension" of the Central Business District. It may in fact require the City to increase their height ceilings a little in some of the zoning districts in order to make a tall building happen. But to my knowledge, that area would not be subject to tight FAA height restrictions due to its distance away from the Sky Harbor flight path. While I am excited to watch downtown development and to watch the City grow, by the same token, a sea of 20 to 30 story buildings does not convey a "large city" feel or image to a visitor from another area. Phoenix needs taller buildings, but seriously lacks those kind of business investment opportunities. This is where the economic development professionals and their "attraction" models and efforts seem to be lacking. While they are doing a great job on small-scale tech job creation and small business startups, their efforts to attract major corporations with the promise of thousands of jobs are non-existent. Nonetheless, I keep waiting for the towers and the addition of corporate jobs. Phoenix is "very far behind" the norm in this category, especially given the fact that our City is about 1,750,000 people and the Metro is pushing 5,000,000 people. We should act like a large American City - we are not El Paso, Tucson or Albuquerque. We are larger than Philadelphia and Dallas. Its all in the attitude and vision for the future by those in a position of leadership - first politically, and also from a planning and economic development perspective. On the surface, this seems to be a combination of outdated, 1960's zoning without any foresight to allow the City to grow up to the next level, and a poor economic development effort on behalf of the City, which is evidenced by the fact that they are unable to attract "any" corporations into the downtown area. The numbers are there and Phoenix "looks big," but from a civic perspective, Phoenix is seriously lacking. City Hall and GPEC need to take a serious look at themselves.
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