Jump to content

other than Atl best skyline in GA.


jervais

Recommended Posts

i think that augusta has the best skyline outside of atlanta. columbus seems to have more potential for new office towers due to the companies they currently have, but they seem to be building lowrise for some reason. i have seen where atleast three 20 plus storey buildings are trying to get going in augusta. if it happens, who knows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 85
  • Created
  • Last Reply

i think that augusta has the best skyline outside of atlanta.  columbus seems to have more potential for new office towers due to the companies they currently have, but they seem to be building lowrise for some reason.  i have seen where atleast three 20 plus storey buildings are trying to get going in augusta.  if it happens, who knows.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am skeptical that Augusta will get anything that tall. What would go in them? Augusta has no major companies that need buildings that tall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am skeptical that Augusta will get anything that tall. What would go in them? Augusta has no major companies that need buildings that tall.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the residential market is not one to ignore. people are more interested in moving into downtowns than ever before. with the scenic views and downtown amenities, i don't think tall residential tower(s) is out of the question. as far as commercial office buildings go, you do have a point. there are no major companies in augusta like there are in columbus, but there are tons of smaller companies. an office building does not have to cater to just one company, there are numerous office buildings around the country which were "spec" buildings which have been very successful. although that is a risky venture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am skeptical that Augusta will get anything that tall. What would go in them? Augusta has no major companies that need buildings that tall.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, for one the New Judicial Center will be 19 floors from what I understand. I think they finally have acquired the land for that...am I right Topher? Still might be a while before they get dirt movin on it though.

I havent heard of anything else though, although i havent lived in Augusta for 5 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a summary of Savannah's taller (10+ stories) buildings (gets my vote):

Downtown:

Savannah Bank (the white signature building on Johnson Square) - 15 stories

Desoto Hilton - 15 stories

Drayton Towers - 10 stories

Rose of Sharon Apartments - 12 stories

Name? (office building on Johnson Square) - 11 stories

Name? (apartment on Abercorn near Forsyth Park) - 12 stories

Hyatt Regency - 10 or 11 stories from the River Street side

Hutchinson Island:

Westin Hotel - 17 stories

Other Locations (all of these are around 20 year old assisted living buildings):

Stillwell Towers (next to Memorial Hospital) - 20 stories

Stubbs Towers (off of Bee Road) - 15 stories

Name? (off of Hampstead Avenue) - 10 stories

Downtown Savannah does have building height restrictions. Here's a link to a sorry picture from the Savannah Morning News. Maybe they reduced the image quality for archiving:

http://www.savannahnow.com/images/071503/full_height.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, for one the New Judicial Center will be 19 floors from what I understand.  I think they finally have acquired the land for that...am I right Topher?  Still might be a while before they get dirt movin on it though. 

I havent heard of anything else though, although i havent lived in Augusta for 5 years.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The judicial center is basically a go. There's a vote coming up soon (I'm not sure how soon) on whether to raise property taxes a few bucks to pay for this (as well as a new civic center, a performing arts center, and numerous other projects), but they think everything will pass.

The only other urban projects that are happening in the city right now are some conversions and Augusta State housing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone told me the ASU Housing will be over on Jackson Road? That seems like an odd location for student housing seeing as how it is a good 4-5 miles from Campus. Are they going to have any height to them or are they going to be lowrise suburban style apartments like the first set of Student housing they built on Wrightsboro Road near the PE Complex.

I drove by the new Family YMCA water center today on Wheeler Road and what a cool place! The only Y I have seen with a water park, (Bubble pools, 100 ft. water slides and of course lap pools.) That area is becoming Augustas first edge city with all the shopping/offices they are building. Evans might have it beat in a few years though, I read an article to some of the top Columbia County officials want Evans to go VERTICAL....like "The Phipps Plaza area of Atlanta", I believe that was the quote. I dont see it happening soon but if they are wanting to create a more urban environment they sure picked a bad example to follow. Just because you have suburban highrises doesnt make it urban.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

um..this is hard one. Considering the geographic location and building's Georgia's others cities really compete. Ive never seen a good look at Columbus full skyline so that's out for now. Macon has a impressive skyline for it's size but it's river dosen't make an affect as good as Savannahs or Augusta's. I like Augusta's alot so i would go with Augusta, but really it's a tie between it and Savannah.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Here's a summary of Savannah's taller (10+ stories) buildings (gets my vote):

Downtown:

Drayton Towers - 10 stories

1503/full_height.jpg

Drayton Tower is 12 stories.

How does everyone feel about the restoration of this building and its conversion to high priced condos?

http://www.wsav.com/servlet/Satellite?page...=!frontpage

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drayton Towers is 12 stories, my mistake.

I grew up in Savannah, but I haven't lived there for over 15 years - the memory fades ... :wacko:

I think the apartment on Abercorn near Forsyth is named Chatham Apartments and it's 14 stories, not 12.

When I lived in Savannah, I always wished they would replace the green glass in Drayton Towers with a mirrored glass to give it a more modern look. I really don't mind the green tint that much now - it definitely makes it more unique. I still think a mirrored glass would have a more lasting architectural appeal. The appeal of the 50's style seems to come and go. It just happens to be in style now. I generally like that it's condos - nice downtown housing anywhere is generally a good thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drayton Towers is 12 stories, my mistake.

I grew up in Savannah, but I haven't lived there for over 15 years - the memory fades ... :wacko:

I think the apartment on Abercorn near Forsyth is named Chatham Apartments and it's 14 stories, not 12.

When I lived in Savannah, I always wished they would replace the green glass in Drayton Towers with a mirrored glass to give it a more modern look. I really don't mind the green tint that much now - it definitely makes it more unique. I still think a mirrored glass would have a more lasting architectural appeal. The appeal of the 50's style seems to come and go. It just happens to be in style now. I generally like that it's condos - nice downtown housing anywhere is generally a good thing.

Well it's great that they are restoring the building but its really sad that after 55 years

of affordable housing, Drayton Tower is now 500,000 condos. Its not realistic for people that actually live and work in Savannah. The people that buy these condos don't live there year round or got their money from elsewhere.

The cost of living in Savannah does not equal the wages. The median income for a family in Savannah is $36,410

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah%2C_Georgia

I am so happy to see Savannah restored and rejuvinated but the job market and wages need to improve before it can truely be rejuvinated. Until that happens, those condos are just vacation homes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

I was searching on Emporis and Augusta actually has more buildings over 10 floors than any other city in Georgia outside ATL metro. It has 15 buildings over 10 floors, most of them downtown. I think there is only 1 exception, and that would be Eisenhower Medical Center at Ft. Gordon. Savannah came in second place, not far behind Augusta...but with quite a few more 5-9 floor buildings than Augusta. Macon came in third and Columbus fourth, with 4 buildings over 10 floors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think 10-15 years from now savannah will have two downtowns one on hutchinson Island and one in the historic district. They have alot of plans to build a few more tall buildings along with shops and residential areas on the island across from downtown.

unfortunately hutchinson island is mostly owned by the georgia port authority for future port expansion, and another part is part of the savannah wildlife reserve (or the gator farm as some call it for its large population of alligators), for the land to be really developed in a high density purpose there would have to be another bridge built as that there is only one road entrance onto the island and the intersection is very scattered and navigation of it is pretty bad, the only solution to this would be to build a bridge from harry truman parkway, which would allow for better access, but unfortunately its a narrower part of the island and a narrower part of the river, which would make the bridge too low (unless you do a drawbridge, but thats outta fashion) because savannah has too high density of a port (one of the largest on the east coasts) for those of you who have been on riverstreet, you see some of the largest container ships in the world, its a big wow.

I'll find a satilite pic, and mess with it.

post-1742-1147224000_thumb.jpg

okay see this huge, absolutely expansive island that spans savannah, garden city and port wendsworth (its outlined in maroon with yellow spots. This is hutchinson its a barren wasteland of nothing but a resort hotel, an awesome golf course, a couple of coast guard docks, lotsa grass, lotsa marsh, and lotsa trees, oh and the soil, is made of sand. Okay you see the vast expanse of unhabitation to the north, that is all marshland, and highway 17, we are all familiar with I-17 I'm sure, in this whole area of I-17 there are only 4 buildings, 3 strip clubs and an abandoned fireworks shop, but thats besides the point.

Hutchinson is simply unbuildable for highrises that is, for the most part, and the ability to organize the island was already messed up by the addition of the westin and the golf course, the ideal notion would be to grid it, but you can't now that the Reserve at Savannah Harbor is going to happen, although I haven't heard much about it in recent years, not since 2004, its a wide and long island, 1.5 miles at the widest and has 17 miles, thats right 17 miles of savannah riverfront, incredible right. But you gotta imagine, savannah is the oldest city in ga, you would think that if it was possible to really and truely develop on this land that it would have been done ages ago.

sorry to get off subject but I had to explain the situation of hutchinson island, I think that its a great place and has so much potential, but to build on the type of earth that is over there is just a terrible problem, I did a report on hutch island when I was still studying architecture and urban planning, and I for a project I wanted to redesign hutchinson island, and have a resort aspect to it, much like what is happening in Brunswick, GA, which I'll find that in a sec. but yea savannah has two skylines, maybe even three, ( hilton desoto, and surrounding 10-15 story buildings, I think of all the "non atlana metro cities" in ga it definately has the best density, and cleanest looking skyline, GO SAVANNAH, its a beautiful place and even after living here 3 years I still consider it one of the most beautiful places in the world.

downtown savannah

aaa.sized.jpg

a chunk of hutchinson island on the right

aab.sized.jpg

more hutchinson island

aac.sized.jpg

description of picture below

aae.sized.jpg

interesting thing about this picture is you can actually see the tallest building in savannah, which is a 20+ story apartment building. if you wanna see look for the white church on the bottom of the picture, and go up from it towards the horizon, there are some tall buildings in the haze, thats the hospital and this building.

255687.jpg

the stillwell towers, the tallest building in savannah, out on waters ave. in southside savannah

hopefully somebody will make me eat crow these are just well researched hypothesis, I could easily be incorrect, but who knows.

oh yea these pictures are all taken by another forumer, not me, so yea, thank them for the photos not me.

you know what, I take back everything about this not being possible, i want this to happen, seriously, there are no height restrictions, imagine it, a old Savannah Historic District, and then "savannah harbor" as its already named.

post-1742-1147224000_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or perhaps a second skyline in Savannah could emerge somwhere in the suburbs. However, I dont think adding tall buildings to Savannahs downtown area will hurt the feel of it...if it is done with total respect for history and tastefully. Modern architecure and older buildings often look quite nice side by side. Look at Rio and New Orleans and Boston.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well unfortunately dt savannah has a height restriction, but after my long rant on the uselessness of hutchinson island, which I'm not kinda embarrassed about haha, I have a little bit of faith in it, but there would definately have to be another bridge somewhere, or traffic flow would be terrible

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How tall can they go in DT Savannah? It looks like there are at least 17-20 floor buildings in that picture. While I know that isnt that tall, by building lower buildings you get more density than if you build just a few talls. It would be nice to see Savannah with a really dense 15-20 floor skyline, mixed in of course with the lower more historical buildings. I think this city really has potential.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Savannah's skyline is the BEST. Yes, Augusta's is a bit larger, but certainly not as pretty. To me, Savannah shimmers with life while Augusta merely looks sicker every time I glance at it...Sorry, the "Hill" is about the only nice place I can think of in Augusta, so perhaps I'm a bit biased.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.