USA | Biggest Skyscraper Building Boom Ever!!!
 

so, with 13 supertalls and almost 100 500+ footers currently U/C nationwide, i think we're currently in the midst of the biggest skyscraper building boom in US history, helped along in large part by the insanity taking place in NYC and miami. however, a dozen other US cities from coast to coast are taking part in the fun too.

here are some stats from the SSP database:


1,000+ footers currently U/C:

NYC - 9
chicago - 1
philly - 1
LA - 1
SF - 1
total - 13

i don't think the US has ever had 5 different cities with a supertall U/C at the same time.



500+ footers currently U/C:

NYC - 41 (+2 in jersey city)
miami - 18 (+5 in sunny isles)
chicago - 8
LA - 6
seattle - 4
philly - 3
SF - 3
houston - 2
austin - 2
boston - 1
denver - 1
milwaukee - 1
nashville - 1
baltimore - 1
total - 98

i don't think the US has ever had 99 500+ footers U/C at the same time. and spread across 14 different cities is probably a record too.

^ Yes, although New York dominates the list, it's pretty awesome that other U.S. cities are getting their fair share of (supertall) towers too. :) I expect we'll see even more supertalls in the pipeline for cities such as Miami and Chicago. Especially Chicago seems to finally have gained some momentum. As for Miami: I guess its biggest flaw are those stupid FAA height restrictions which pretty much kill any solid supertall.

Miami, Dallas and Seattle will all likely see a Supertall built in the next decade. NYC and Chicago are no-brainers for more Supertalls.

Philadelphia will be seeing another Supertall in the next decade too as a part of the Schuylkill Yards development:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=221324

2017 will be even greater for the stats as many projects move from the pipeline and into foundation work.

Surprisingly, the FAA has been kinda generous with Miami. Some of the supertalls have been approved by the FAA. They chopped some towers from 1100 ft to a modest 1,049 ft, but hey, that sounds good to me.

Sunny Isles is kinda an outlier, and for its small population, it has a very tall skyline.

I think JC will move up the rankings soon enough. Miami will continue with a solid 2nd as 2017/18 will see numerous 500 ft+ towers rising. I also see LA picking steam up. The market seems to be great now, and if all of the towers proposed recently are anything to go by, LA will see a bright future.

yes, chicago is finally getting back to form!

last year at this time, there were only 3 500+ footers U/C in chicago:

1. 150 North Riverside | 752 FT | 54 FLOORS - nearly complete
2. River Point | 730 FT | 52 FLOORS - nearly complete
3. Optima Phase II | 588 FT | 57 FLOORS



but over the past 12 months an additional 5 500+ footers have started up:

1. Vista Tower | 1,186 FT | 98 FLOORS
2. One Grant Park | 893 FT | 80 FLOORS
3. One Bennett Park | 836 FT | 68 FLOORS
4. CNA Center | 568 FT | 36 FLOORS
5. 465 North Park | 535 FT | 48 FLOORS



and in addition to those, another two are scheduled to start up in the next couple of months:

1. Wolf Point - East Tower | 679 FT | 62 FLOORS
2. Essex Inn Tower | 607 FT | 56 FLOORS



as for potential future supertalls, there's nothing concrete yet, but there are a couple of possible candidates:

1. the PD for the wolf point multi-tower project indicates that the south tower will stand around 950', but in chicago the highest occupied floor is typically listed as the building height for planning purposes, and there has been much speculation in the wolf point thread that the building looks to have several floors of unoccupied mechanical space at the top that would likely take it over the 1,000' threshold.

2. the former chicago spire site is now owned by related and they have teased that they will be releasing their plans for the site sometime soon. there hasn't been any direct indication that this one will go supertall, but they have stated that they will do something big and skyline defining on the site, so it's very possible that it could be another supertall.



however it all shakes out, chicago is now in the middle of a very solid skyscraper building boom. it took us a while to get there, as we lagged our coastal cousins a bit, but at least we're finally there.

^ What about that proposed supertall in the West Loop? Was that ever a thing?

Seattle is down to 4. The second Amazon tower is now occupied.

The 4 are a 660' office building, two other office buildings around 520' if I recall, and a hotel around 500'.

if you're talking about this SOM design that was floated by sterling bay as a possible candidate for the union station redevelopment RFP, it was listed as 958' tall, just shy of supertall status.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cr2uy83W8AAlFb1.jpg

it is a thing, but it's just one proposal competing against 4 others that we know very little about. a winner has not been selected, so it's very possible that this particular design goes nowhere. we're still waiting for details on the other proposals to be made public.

i was thinking about this over the weekend:

with all of this activity, which U.S. city will be next to get its FIRST supertall?

i know miami and seattle both have proposals (miami has at least a couple, i think), so they seem the most likely to crack the 1,000-foot barrier for the first time.

after that, who's next to get their first supertall? dallas? charlotte? minneapolis?

my money is on miami.

but seattle could beat them to the punch.

I'm betting on Seattle too.

The US cities that currently have supertalls are New York, LA, Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta. Then SF and Philly are both getting their firsts. That's correct right?

Yes.

yep, here's the existing and U/C supertall situation for US cities:

City --- exist. - U/C - Total

NYC ------- 7 --- 8 --- 15
Chicago --- 5 --- 1 --- 6
LA --------- 1 --- 1 --- 2
Atlanta ---- 1 --- 0 --- 1
Houston --- 1 --- 0 --- 1
Philly ------ 0 --- 1 --- 1
SF --------- 0 --- 1 --- 1

i suppose you could technically include Las Vegas in there with the Stratosphere, even though it's just an observation tower.

you could do that, but in the SSP database, observation towers are classified in a separate category from highrise buildings.

Nice summary of all the Chicago projects! There's so much action in New York alone that I pretty much don't know what's going on in Chitown (except for the Vista supertall). It's hard to keep track these days. :D

Miami seriously needs a supertall or two. The city already has so many towers, it needs a focal point now.

I'd also be interested to know how many cities are building a structure which will be in their top 10 tallest. Here's a few -

Chicago is getting a new 3rd tallest
SF is getting new 1st & 3rd
Austin new 1st, 3rd, and 7th
Miami 1st & 4th
Fort Worth 7th
Houston 6th
Seattle 5th & 10th
Philidelphia 1st, 7th, & 9th
Boston 2nd
Milwaukee 2nd and 8th
Oklahoma City 6th
Los Angeles 1st
Nashville 2nd & 4th
Denver 5th
Baltimore 4th

In addition to Vista Tower, which will be a new 3rd tallest, Chicago is also getting a new 9th tallest with the 893' tall One Grant Park, which just started construction last week.

and lets not forget the mighty NYC, it's currently building a new 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, & 9th tallest for itself!