Marcus Allen Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Although I am not in any way discounting all the development in Houston, I must say when visiting other forums, I get a twinge of jealousy when seeing the tall towers breaking ground and rising in SF, LA, Philly, and I read that Charlotte and Atlanta are in the works for another 1000+ footer. On the other hand, I know it's a bigger deal for these cities because there hasnt been as much development overall as is here. I guess I am just being greedy. I want infill AND a supertall. At this point I could care less if it's in DT, UT or MT. Just build one!! Ok, ok, I am over my tantrum now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lithiumaneurysm Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 While another supertall would be pretty cool, I'm more jealous of the cities you mentioned because they have concentrated and filled-in city cores. LA, Atlanta, Philly and SF don't have the acres of surface parking and overgrown lots that we have. If there's one thing that will completely transform Houston's image, it's moving to create vibrant neighborhoods in and around Downtown. A really tall skyscraper just isn't as captivating if it's surrounded by nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I'm not too worried about other cities getting supertalls. Who cares. I would rather watch Downtown Houston transform into a 24/7 livable neighborhood. Give it time to fill in with residential, add more hotels to accommodate the growing demand for them + new businesses and I believe we're looking at a very different Houston in 2020 than what most of us imagined just a year or two ago. Imagine me being all optimistic for once?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 yes arche.....im actually quite shocked by this lol. Actually I was on devmap yesterday just to see what was going on in some other cities (of course, not all are on there or have developments shown). I got a tad jealous also, but in the end we should be incredibly proud that all our great american cities are finally moving in the right direction in terms of urbanism. Just like us, non of it is perfect, but it is going to be an exciting time for cities again. Houston is getting there. We are on the cusp. Arche is right. Another 5 years of solid development will do wonders, and then the next 5 years after that where things get interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tower26 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 This city has a good housing market because we're building aparments ,townhomes , condominiums , lofts , penthouses , etc. around this city but we have to bring up our commerce and business by finding ways to increase our market for commerce and business and making sure they stay here . This would be good time for more superscrapers especially for Houston . I would love to see another superscraper in this city along with the Williams Tower. I would like to see a city observation and restaurant tower here in downtown like Dallas and San Antonio . For example , Houston Iostar or Iosphere , Houston Metrosphere or Metrostar , Torch of the Gulfwaters , SolarSphere or Solarstar ,Petrostar or Petrosphere , etc. would be examples of good names for this tower . It would have a visitor's giftshop . Most cities would have a observation/restaurant tower in their skylines that not only attracts visitors and business class people but developers also . Normally, the first structure that people look for in a city sometimes is a superstructure that is towering that they can see miles around like the Williams Tower . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 You keep referring to Williams tower as a "superscraper" (super tall I assume?) when it's barely over 900' (super tall is 300 meters or higher). The two supertalls in Houston are in downtown.. JP Morgan and Wells Fargo. But I agree, it would be great to add another during this go round.And idk if I share the "good names" opinion. Id rather us not have a tacky observation tower with an even tackier name.If it's a 12-1400' observation tower where the observation/restaurant part is above the other towers in the city, and it's a sleek or spacey design it could go. But anything that's shorter than the other buildings around it wouldn't work very well.Not sure how much these observation towers attract development though. I suppose you could build a mixed use/touristy destination around the bottom, but even the Tower of the Americas didn't spawn any development that I know of until this 14 story that was recently announced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Allen Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 I know it's a marketing ploy, but I guess I get caught up in the " skyline changing tower" etc. Monikers given to these other city towers. Will all the infill help DT? Absolutely, and I am all for it. I think we are going to see a wave of new HTown Urbanites over the next decade. I just think the new towers, although mostly impressive in their design, will only BLEND into the overall skyline, not help define it. And yes, I know, I know, we already HAVE an iconic skyline. I would just hate it if HTown lost out on an opportunity to create a new supertall, then, as all things do, the market slows or stagnates, and I am 60 before a new tower of note comes along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Allen Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 yes arche.....im actually quite shocked by this lol.Actually I was on devmap yesterday just to see what was going on in some other cities (of course, not all are on there or have developments shown). I got a tad jealous also, but in the end we should be incredibly proud that all our great american cities are finally moving in the right direction in terms of urbanism. Just like us, non of it is perfect, but it is going to be an exciting time for cities again.Houston is getting there. We are on the cusp. Arche is right. Another 5 years of solid development will do wonders, and then the next 5 years after that where things get interesting.Yes, I am quite proud of all of our nation's cities that seem to be bouncing back. I just read about Bostons Millennium Tower. Had no idea. And I read that Miami may have a major backer for a 90 storey tower. So, great news from coast to coast! It will be interesting to see some opening credits for the thousand crime shows on prime time tv in the next couple of seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I would like to see a city observation and restaurant tower here in downtown like Dallas and San Antonio . For example , Houston Iostar or Iosphere , Houston Metrosphere or Metrostar , Torch of the Gulfwaters , SolarSphere or Solarstar ,Petrostar or Petrosphere , etc. would be examples of good names for this tower . It would have a visitor's giftshop . Most cities would have a observation/restaurant tower in their skylines that not only attracts visitors and business class people but developers also .While the names are creative I don't think an observation tower would suite Houston's skyline. New York, LA, and Chicago do just fine without one. Dallas's works because it doesn't look like your average spinning deck tower, and San Antonio, well... Their skyline is small and it works. Check out shots of Frankfurt's skyline with the tower in it. It just doesn't seem to fit. While they are a novelty, Houston has never and may never be a novelty kind of town. Many skylines throughout the whole world have them. I would much rather see a supertall that has an observation deck then a tower built simply for the observation deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towerjunkie Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Personally I must agree with you Marcus, it does enrage me to see all these things happening in other cities when the same could be done for Houston. However, when you think about it, we have plenty of good things going for us right now such as 609, 2929 Weslayan, Belfiore, Astoria, Chelsea Montrose and countless others in the works or already breaking ground and yes even the boxy development in the energy corridor (which is have learned to tolerate) so looking at all of our development Houston is doing much better than it was 20 or even 5 years ago! Plus, as mentioned in other threads, infill will lead to shortage of lots and therefore less bland and less boxy building designs. Think about it, would you wan't a box for a supertall? I think not. Therefore, I think a supertall can wait a couple years, I don't think King Chase is ready to step off the throne. Pardon the lengthy post. With regards to the observation tower, unless we move the space needle from Seattle to Houston (which makes sense because of NASA) I don't think we should take build one unless it's some sort of groundbreaking innovative design or something that isn't bland like the rest of those observation towers mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Although I am not in any way discounting all the development in Houston, I must say when visiting other forums, I get a twinge of jealousy when seeing the tall towers breaking ground and rising in SF, LA, Philly, and I read that Charlotte and Atlanta are in the works for another 1000+ footer. On the other hand, I know it's a bigger deal for these cities because there hasnt been as much development overall as is here. I guess I am just being greedy. I want infill AND a supertall. At this point I could care less if it's in DT, UT or MT. Just build one!! Ok, ok, I am over my tantrum now. Are those Charlotte and Atlanta 1000+ footers by any chance in the same category as our 102 story tower or our Uptown supertall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Allen Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Not sure. Just going by what I read on other forums. I think it is safe to say, unless it seems outlandish, interest in building a tower these days seems to lead to tower completion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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