Welcome to the forum. And, that's a great idea you have. They were going to make the new World Trade Center only 60' tall so I called them and said make it the tallest building in the US! They liked the idea and before I got off the phone, they agreed to raise it to 1,776 ft. tall as it is today. Let's do it!!! :P

If it's going to be around 450 feet tall, they can't build any higher because of FAA restrictions.

Saw this come across my email. I thought this transaction was done, or that the parcel was acquired by the entity on large parcel next to it. Either way, it's a step in the right direction.

http://pdf.leeazmail.com/pdfs/Centra...0Camelback.jpg

Ahh whatever man it was worth a shot! Why not? FAA restrictions?

That sucks. They screw Phoenix over on FAA restrictions. Look at downtown San Diego and how close it is to their flight path and they get away with 500' no problem.

Interesting, I guess it just took a long time to close the deal? Maybe this vague 7 story apartment development proposal from April 2016 will see some movement now: http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us

Hopefully if that project is still moving forward it will only be on a small portion of the landmass they've banked together, and not the whole damn thing. I swear if they cover that entire corner with something like what happened at Central & McDowell :hell:

Exactly. My wife and I drove to San Diego for the weekend yesterday. Today, we were walking along the north shore of Coronado Island, gazing across the water at the beautiful skyline and I said, "I wish we could build beautiful buildings like this in Phoenix, but we can't because of FAA restrictions". My wife, who wouldn't spend 5 minutes on a board about skyscrapers, said, "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! What about the San Diego airport being right next to downtown?!" Just makes me think the FAA has it out for us.

The FAA restrictions for the majority of Downtown Phoenix are not as low as San Diego except right around the stadium and arena South of Jefferson. CityScape could have went 500' if they wanted to. Where Block 23 is, the FAA limit is right around 475'.

Some areas in West Downtown around 6th Ave can go 600', but I doubt we will see any highrises that far out for quite some time. I don't know if the height limits increase over 600' anywhere South of Hance. But Midtown can go to 700' or so.

https://skyharbor.com/docs/default-s...e.pdf?sfvrsn=0

has the height zone map for Downtown Phoenix. If you subtract 1083', the elevation of downtown give or take, from the Arizona Center area (1525'), you get 442 feet.

The smallest zone in downtown phoenix by the corner only allows for a 192' building.

For decades, the FAA has restricted San Diego's downtown building height to 500' within a mile and a half radius of the airport. The tallest building in San Diego is right at 500', so just 17' taller than Chase Tower here. Since their downtown is so dense and practically next to the airport, it just makes ours seem even smaller than it is. If all the vacant lots in Phoenix were developed with buildings at the maximum heights allowed, we'd have quite a few high rises taller than anything San Diego could ever have.

Yeah I don't disagree with you on that, but that's a long shot and a big if. Usually developers don't seem to build to the maximum height limit anyways in phx. They seem to be on a tight budget. But there are a ton of good things going on downtown and a lot of good signs with all of the in-filling going on. Things are looking more dense all around and we are headed in the right direction!

Glad they didn't build that lollipop 420' observation tower 3 years ago.

Phoenix needs a 700' building on Central somewhere between Roosevelt and Van Buren. I love my city, but am so frustrated with our weak skyline. I guess that's how we all feel here.

Wow, anyone notice how old the map is on the Sky Habor site. The convention center is barely under construction. I think it's amazing how vital Cityscape has been for the development of downtown. Look at that wasteland on the map of Patriots Square. I'm so excited for Block 23 to get rolling and for Arizona Center's improvements to get under way. Downtown will never be complete but after those two vital additions it will make it a 24 hour place you never have to leave, I just hope AZ Center gets a few decent clothing stores.

Another thing that's kinda funny that I noticed. People keep talking how block 23 used to be a theatre and then a JC Penny after that. They say the now parking lot. But they seem to forget the most recent that u can see it the Sky Habor pic. The building that had the picture of a reflection of the then America West Area. It also had a picture of a big basketball in it. It was a office balding I believe actually for the Suns. They tore it down when Cityscape was suppose to be 3 blocks. They should of never tore it down unless they knew for sure they were building those condos. Anyway, at least we got Block 23 going up now!

That office building was the old Penny's. It's interesting that it lasted into the mid-2000s until the Sun's tore it down. Seems like a common theme they like to maintain; ripping down old buildings to fit more parking for their games. I think Stoudemire's used to be there too.

Too bad that W Hotel didn't go up. It was suppose to be on Jefferson and about 450' I believe. It had a skinny foot print too which would have made it look awesome there. But yeah anything is better than a flat parking lot on Block 23!

Have they begun to dig out the foundation yet? What's going on with Block 23?

Stoudemire's was in the Collier Center.

Yes, in the space now occupied by the Park.

Amusing.
If San Diego didn't have FAA restrictions, you would see 700 to 1000 foot towers (picture Gold Coast Australia).

If Phoenix didn't have FAA restrictions, it would likely look about the same.

Totally different markets.

Yes, and if Phoenix hadn't changed zoning laws back in the day to allow high rises along Central, downtown would look a lot different than it does and might include much taller buildings than what now exist. If every high/mid rise in Phoenix was crammed into the downtown core, we'd be a lot closer to looking like San Diego does now. In fact, didn't someone on one of the Phoenix threads make a rendering a few years ago showing what that would potentially look like?