What would you rather see in GR's skyline?

[snoogit]

I was just thinking what I would rather see of the city's skyline, one or two giant buildings, erecting to the sky, or several 15-30 story buildings dotting the skyline filling in the urban landscape. I personally would rather see the several 15-30 story buildings then one giant symbol of phallic pride myself.

I think this is a big problem with cities that have one extra tall skyscraper *cough (Cleveland) *cough*, and hardly any height elsewhere. (mostly sparked by some photos of Busch stadium I saw today, St. Louis never looked cooler.

(Here they are)

[Rizzo]

I agree... In thoes 15-30 Id like to see two towers around 800-900' creating two urban centers. I think the story amounts can be misleading when specific to residential or office buildings. The heights of thoes stories can be quite different between the two.

[GoodNews]

I think it should be many 15-30 story buildings to make the city look dense. Having 1-3 skyscrapes with no dense skyline looks dumb.

[snoogit]

I agree... In thoes 15-30 Id like to see two towers around 800-900' creating two urban centers. I think the story amounts can be misleading when specific to residential or office buildings. The heights of thoes stories can be quite different between the two.

I dont think you will see a 30 story building be as tall as a 50 story building though, but I know what you mean.

800-900 is a lot of height, more then I think we will ever see in Grand Rapids (although 600-700 is plausible 20-40 years from now)

[gvsusean]

def. 20-30 story buildings with each floor of those buildings being 20-30 feet.

[snoogit]

def. 20-30 story buildings with each floor of those buildings being 20-30 feet.

That wouldnt be good at all, each floor would look vapid and empty

[Rizzo]

^I think I saw a publication or something on the net that did a glance at some of the many skyscrapers going up in UAE. One mentioned that the floor to floor height in a few buildings was in the twenties. I think this is due to the 30 floor restriction in place in one of the UAE cities and trying to stretch out the design to be alittle phallic...

[AlexPKeaton]

I'd like to see one or two tall buildings that you could see for miles. After that I'm really fine with 5-10 floor buildings to make a nice dense urban feel. I'd just like to have a landmark building that breaks our existing height barrier where the Amway, Bridgewater Place, and the Plaza Towers all seem to hit. Is Riverhouse going to be the tallest building in Grand Rapids when it's built? That would be a start, but even that doesn't seem significantly taller.

-nb

[Josh]

Is Riverhouse going to be the tallest building in Grand Rapids when it's built? That would be a start, but even that doesn't seem significantly taller.

-nb

Yes, Riverhouse is slated to be the tallest in GR at 382' while Plaza Towers is at 345' I think.

[GR8scott]

I would like to see a landmark at about 550 ft and 50 floors and in the central area of dt and maybe a half dozen filler 200-400' after riverhouse actually if we could just break the 400' barrier soon, I will be happy

anything over 500 feet will be a landmark building and can not imagine one over 700' in the next 30 years at least, there would have to be tremendous growth that would not happen and I wouldnt want to deal with it

Cleveland's skline may look wierd because it is kind of spread out, Charlotte has very similar builldings as far as hight but is centralized and looks very nice so does minneapolis

I think we should strive to be like des moines with the variance in hight

[hood]

Most 50 story buildings are taller than 550 ft, they are more like 600-700 ft, I think that would destroy GR's skyline unless other buildings of at least 30 floor were built around it. Look at the RenCen in Detroit, it is completely out of proportion with the rest of downtown. A 50 story building could be made to look right in GR but it would be a hard balancing act both in location and design.

[snoogit]

I would like to see a landmark at about 550 ft and 50 floors and in the central area of dt and maybe a half dozen filler 200-400' after riverhouse actually if we could just break the 400' barrier soon, I will be happy

anything over 500 feet will be a landmark building and can not imagine one over 700' in the next 30 years at least, there would have to be tremendous growth that would not happen and I wouldnt want to deal with it

Cleveland's skline may look wierd because it is kind of spread out, Charlotte has very similar builldings as far as hight but is centralized and looks very nice so does minneapolis

I think we should strive to be like des moines with the variance in hight

Striving to be like Des Moines is like striving to be a C student

I'm surprised we don't have taller buildings though, I mean I know Des Moines has the 801 Grand, which is 630 ft, but its metro is smaller then GR's...

I think if we had a couple of the big companies move into the DT area, then we could have taller buildings.

[OneSweetWorld]

I think it should be many 15-30 story buildings to make the city look dense. Having 1-3 skyscrapes with no dense skyline looks dumb.

every been to downtown Tampa? There are like 5 or 6 huge @$$ buildings, and maybe a few smaller ones, but thats really it:

http://www.stpetersburg-realtor.com/images/aerial13.jpg

[hood]

every been to downtown Tampa? There are like 5 or 6 huge @$$ buildings, and maybe a few smaller ones, but thats really it:

http://www.stpetersburg-realtor.com/images/aerial13.jpg

I count 8 . I hate that look, I like a dense downtown, with height building up progressivly towards a central point. Thats one reason I like Lansing's downtown, minus Grand Tower everything builds up towards Michigan National.

[GRDadof3]

every been to downtown Tampa? There are like 5 or 6 huge @$$ buildings, and maybe a few smaller ones, but thats really it:

http://www.stpetersburg-realtor.com/images/aerial13.jpg

Most Southern cities are "good from afar", but up close are "far from good". Charlotte, Houston and Atlanta are great examples.

[MJLO]

dad be yeecareful what yee sayeth about the golden cities of thine forum

[GRGyp]

I'd like to see one or two tall buildings that you could see for miles. After that I'm really fine with 5-10 floor buildings to make a nice dense urban feel. I'd just like to have a landmark building that breaks our existing height barrier where the Amway, Bridgewater Place, and the Plaza Towers all seem to hit. Is Riverhouse going to be the tallest building in Grand Rapids when it's built? That would be a start, but even that doesn't seem significantly taller.

-nb

I was driving home from work yesterday (work on the southside, live on the northside) and as I was heading into the S-curve I was struck by the view of Spectrum Hospital on the hill and the McKay Tower. As you drive north on 131, right around the Franklin/Hall area, you can look up towards the medical hill and have a nice view. You can't see the Amway, Bridgewater, or the Plaza Towers at this point.

I'm thinking a tall and majestic 30 story building framed on the front and left by the McKay tower, with the hospital framing the background and the right would be an awesome sight to behold driving northbound on 131 into the city.

[Greedo]

tall and majestic 30 story building framed on the front and left by the McKay tower, with the hospital framing the background and the right would be an awesome sight

Yeah, THAT's what I'm talkin' about!

Awesome indeed.

[Thrillhouse]

I think more 15-30 story buildings would be nice rather than a couple of smaller buildings. The three biggest (right now) are nice but stick out quite a bit. More density with buildings like that would look a lot nicer. The Cleveland example above was a great one. Those couple of tall buildings stick out like a sore thumb and detract from the rest of downtown.

[GVLaker06]

every been to downtown Tampa? There are like 5 or 6 huge @$$ buildings, and maybe a few smaller ones, but thats really it:

http://www.stpetersburg-realtor.com/images/aerial13.jpg

It looks really cool from st. petersburg though...but when I go to tampa, I dont fell overwhelmed by a big city feel compared to GR.

[GR8scott]

yeah a taller tower or 2 would stick out if placed in the wrong spot, right now Gr is setting up a long north-south stretch of buildings along the river. I think there needs to be taller building in the center behind the river to the east, not to many spots left to build, but IMO we need some variance in hight with at least 1 taller building there are too many close to same hight.

Striving to be like Des Moines is like striving to be a C student tongue.gif

So GR is a D student? I ahppen to think that Des Moines has a better skyline as far as hight and placement. Tthey have a lot of things going for them it also seems to be a little more progressive and while the city may not be much larger than GR the metro is smaller but it has a bigger city attitude. 801 grand is a nice looking building, why can't we get one like that, it may be a too tall for GR? no we just need to fill it in with a few smaller buildings.

[Rizzo]

I think Heartside will also create another skyline, along with Center City, Pill Hill, and maybe North Monroe. A build up of centers with Center City having the tallest would be a neat trick.

[GR8scott]

I think Heartside will also create another skyline, along with Center City, Pill Hill, and maybe North Monroe. A build up of centers with Center City having the tallest would be a neat trick.

thats a cool idea but there would be such a long ways to go, and the buildings in the center would have to be significatly taller, like 400-600 footers

[snoogit]

<snip>So GR is a D student?</snip>

In a word: yes. But not like a D student that keeps getting Ds no matter how much people try to fix it. Grand Rapids is like a D student who hasn't been properly tutored. Its like an A student waiting to be found. Like that guy who seems to know everything, but is moping up messes in the cafeteria at the hospital, or the McDonald's worker who reads classic literature everyday.

Its a city that if given the proper direction will prosper into a great city, but if its not given a diverse, and progressive pathway, it will turn into a shell of its former self. GR is at the point where it needs to break out of elementary school, and get ready to enter junior high, where it won't have the one teacher for the entire day anymore, but multiple teachers everyday.

[Rizzo]

In a word: yes. But not like a D student that keeps getting Ds no matter how much people try to fix it. Grand Rapids is like a D student who hasn't been properly tutored. Its like an A student waiting to be found. Like that guy who seems to know everything, but is moping up messes in the cafeteria at the hospital, or the McDonald's worker who reads classic literature everyday.

I never really heard it put that way, well done.