Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyscrapersOfNewYork
I always knew that the WTC's master plan would become a problem for downtown...Lower Manhattan has no space left for new development, it's narrow streets make it less appealing then midtown and to top it off the small plots that are left are being taken and banal residential towers are being built on them. The only place LM has to go is up. To compete as a CBD in years to come LM has to build lager slender towers and the WTC cannot hold LM hostage just because it holds a sentimental place on the skyline. We need more supertalls and were probably one of the only cities on the planet that has an actual demand for them. I only hope that one WTC looses its place as The areas tallest skyscraper in the next few years and the WTC keeps its master plan to itself and not superimpose it onto all of Downtown.
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The master plan isn't that bad, the problem is that it's probably out of date already considering the amount of demand we've seen. Not just from residential space (none of which was ever really including in the plan) but office space too (even though all the WTC towers aren't being built yet, oddly enough, the demand is there). I can't help but feel disappointed that 1WTC's roof was topped out at only 1,373 feet. During that time I don't think it was wildly believed that tenants would want space in supertall towers again so close after 9/11. The world wasn't building 2,000 foot towers back then. That was 2005, this is 2013.
All of these near supertall residential towers going up in downtown are just that, near supertalls. These aren't the same big guys going up in Midtown near Central Park. They are shorter, less ambitious, less expensive. Still among the tallest in the city though. Personally I think the developers in downtown are aiming more for the domestic market/Wall Street group than the international billionaires seeking trophy residential spaces.