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Originally Posted by RonnieFoos
I think it will keep going as long as the economy holds, slow down on the next recession and then gain momentum again. Tempe is landlocked and really nowhere it can build except up. The only problem is, Tempe won't get any towers over the height of W6 for a long time if ever. But I am perfectly fine with that as long as Tempe keeps adding another dozen or so towers around 250'.
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I've never really thought about how Tempe is landlocked, but now that you mention that, it is very true with Scottsdale to the north, Mesa to the east, PHX to the west and Chandler to the south.
RE height: I'm still, to this day, baffled at how low the planes fly near Tempe as well as DTPHX with all the buildings. It seems most flight paths line up mainly over Tempe Town Lake and as far south as University Dr (in terms of most flights I've observed) so I would assume if we were to see something taller than 300' it would be somewhere on Apache, no further east than McClintock is my guess.
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Originally Posted by muertecaza
Yeah it's pretty great. Union, Mirabella and Oliv make a big difference. It used to be that West 6th stuck out and was sort of a skyline unto itself. Now like you say Tempe has its own mini-skyline, with Westin and 100 Mill about to add to it and several others potentially adding as well.
In the next 2-5 years, of the buildings either in the early stages of construction or not yet under construction, the ones I think could add to a "skyline" are 100 Mill, Westin, Omni and 707 Forest. Depending on how much the city builds and the angle, other skyline projects might include The Pier and Skyview. There are lots of other shorter projects--e.g. the 6th/College hotel, Hilo, Farmer Arts, Novus projects, Apache student housing projects, etc.--that I don't think will really add to a "skyline."
I doubt anything that is not currently proposed could be adding to the skyline in 2 years, but on a 5 year timeline, you could potentially see tall projects at the 3rd/Ash parking lot, the Newman center, the First Congregational Church, NEC of Rio Salado/Ash (by Tempe Beach Park), various places in the Novus Corridor, various sites on the south side of the lake, a latter phase building in the Watermark development, etc.
I am not going to pretend to be able to prognosticate economic fluctuations that obviously will affect development. But on current trends of (1) employers wanting to be in Tempe to be near the lake, airport and university, (2) renewed interest in urban (or urban-ish) living, (3) massive domestic migration to Phoenix-metro, (4) a city council generally supportive of increased urbanization/density (at least in the core), and (5) ASU aggressively building out the Novus corridor as a means of generating revenue, signs point to a lot of those projects being built and the skyline continuing to grow.
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Tempe really is on fire with the aspect of selling itself with the 5 key points you mentioned. If they get the streetcar down to Tempe Marketplace and around the Novus corridor they're building, there truly will be no reason to have a car if you're within a reasonable distance of the streetcar. Now if someone could tell Scottsdale to get with it and get lightrail going up Rural - Scottsdale Rd... then you really wouldn't need to to drive much living in Tempe.
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Originally Posted by combusean
They should level A Mountain so those towers can be seen. It would also open up room for more towers.  In all honesty, it prevents what has been a Tempe skyline with what has been built on the north side of it.
The Newman Center had a partnership to build a religious-oriented student housing tower. I wouldn't be surprised if that renewed either this cycle or the next.
W6 will forever be the tallest building in Tempe, the height limit is 300' to parapet which was devised after it.
And yes, Tempe has no choice to go but up--their budget depends on it. The state-shared revenue formula sends more money to cities that are growing more. This is the exact opposite of California where cities have no financial incentive to build housing and results in the high cost of living there--not enough supply. |
I'm assuming leveling A mountain is a banter lol but I don't know... I feel like A mountain is a part of the skyline even though everything is oddly built around it, it just adds that extra oomph to the area. Although I do agree the skyline would be more dense looking with Marina Heights being able to blend seamlessly into the canyon forming on University.
RE Height again: I also don't mind the height limit as I can easily see Tempe having sort of that Vancouver effect with skyscrapers just willy nilly everywhere; an urban forest of similar heights from the lake all the way across and that to me looks cooler than a progressing skyline of midrises and clear business district with taller to tallest buildings.
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Maybe it looks above ground when you are right in front of it.
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