Has Miami become the SF of the east coast?

[Steely Dan]

wow, what a retard festival this thread has become, whew!

miami is going through an amazing skyscraper building boom right now. so are NYC and chicago. why some of you seem so unable or unwilling to wrap your heads around this simple concept is a mystery to me.

as a bunch of a skyscraperfans, we should all be excited to see these US cities building more skyscrapers instead of being provincial little twats about it, "my city is the most boomingest in the US", "nuh-uh, shut-up, my city is the most boomingest", "no, fuck you, my city is".

everything is always a petty childish competiton on this fucking forum.

[Bobdreamz]

Interesting thread....We are no San Francisco or Boston...however compared to most large cities and metros in the south we are unique being densley populated.
The city of Miami (population of 386,000) is only 36 square miles which is comparable in size to Boston or SF.There are only three cities in the southeast that average over 10,000+ people per square mile and they are Miami,Miami Beach and Hialeah which are all in Miami-Dade County.
About the only comparison to SF we might have is that Miami is very liberal.
We have Human Rights Ordinances, an Urban Growth Boundary, nude beaches and we have voted for every Democrat that has run for president since Reagan.
If there is a city we want to emulate it will be NYC,SF or Chicago not Dallas, Houston or Atlanta.

[NovaWolverine]

You can argue how cities from different areas compare, but there is no way IMO, that you can say Miami is the 2nd city of the east.

[The anti-cheesehead]

This is a little off topic.......LA's towers are built with earthquakes in mind, are Miami's towers built especially for hurricanes?

[Molo]

Hey, I have a question.
What city are you most likely to visit for:

vacation?
work?
retire?
new home?
good looking people?
food?
weather?
culture?
entertainment?

The list is SF, LA, NY Chi, Mia, Vegas?
For some reason, SF and Chi never enter my mind on any two topics.
That just the way it is Mr. Anderson!

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by goonsta

Here's a list from Skyscrapers.com

New York
88 under construction
21 approved
46 proposed
700 ft - 8
500 ft - 14
300 ft - 36

Chicago -
28 under construction
36 approved
76 proposed
700 ft - 8
500 ft - 24
300 ft - 46

Miami -
49 under construction
55 approved
44 proposed
700 ft - 8
500 ft - 24
300 ft - 37

All there have different scenarios, but Miami definately isn't unparalleled. People may have that perception because its more visually apparent in Miami, which has a small skyline, wheras in NYC or Chicago, many buildings U/C get lost in an already overbuilt highrise forest.

By my count miami's numbers should be:
UC, approved, proposed
700ft - 11
500ft - 55
300ft - 119
That is a boom.

These numbers are for Miami-Dade County which is what is comparable to NY and Chicago's city limits (not just the tiny City of Miami). If all are built it should push the County over the 1000 highrise mark (at around 750 now).

[CNB30]

Rise my evil thread. I bring you back from the dead

[spencer114]

DC is the SF of the East Coast.

[Aceventura]

I can only foresee bad things for this thread.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by CNB30

Rise my evil thread. I bring you back from the dead

Aren't you cute! I'm surprised I haven't noticed this thread before, but the last post was in 2005 before you brought it back from the dead.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i think boston is a better comparison as the SF of the east coast.

Originally Posted by hudkina

Yeah, Boston is the San Francisco of the East Coast.

Originally Posted by Shawn

SF/Boston is far more appropriate a comparison. I don’t wanna come off as smug here, but I think comparing San Francisco to Boston makes perfect sense.

I'll have to agree with these guys. Having lived in San Francisco and from what I know and have heard about Boston. I would have to say that Boston is the San Francisco of the east coast.

Originally Posted by Shawn

Miami should be compared to LA - both are fast growing centers of pop culture in warm climates with nice beaches, large service sectors and limited corporate presence.

Originally Posted by James704

I think of Miami more as the LA of the East Coast.

Originally Posted by samsonyuen

I also see Miami more like the LA of the East coast than SF of the east coast (which I agree is like Boston).

Originally Posted by Molo

Miami is the LA of the east.

Having lived in Los Angeles and now in Miami, I will have to agree with this. When I moved to Los Angeles it reminded me of Miami. When I moved back to Florida, Miami seemed like a smaller version of Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by dave8721

I'd say its more of a half-Chicago, half-LA of the East Coast.

Having lived in Los Angeles and having been to Chicago twice this year, I'll have to agree with this statement

Originally Posted by James704

How so Chicago? Miami's skylines is starting to look like Chicago's.

Having visited Chicago twice this year, I will have to say that this is far more true today than it was when this thread was started. The Chicago skyline and the Miami skyline are similarly configured along a large body of water with a river of their namesake running through their downtown. Both cities have their financial districts located south of the river.

Originally Posted by lauderdalegator

I'd say Boston is the city most like SF on the east coast.

Miami is more like a baby L.A., It's very spread out with a severe case of sprawl. It's known more for entertainment, fashion, tourism, music, etc. than it is known for business. The salary gap here is huge and the average salary is much lower than the bay area or Boston.

Living in the Miami area, it seems that there are alot of rich people and alot of poor people but not so many middle-class people like you find in more business oriented cities like SF, Boston, Atlanta, etc.

Miami's skyline is also misleading. Most of the skylines down here are made up of condo towers not office buildings. If you removed all of the condo towers Miami's skyline would not be impressive at all. SF and Boston have huge office tower skylines.

I'd say SF and Boston are far more alike than Miami and SF. Miami is much more like a little L.A.

I agree with most of this, but what is really misleading about the Miami skyline is the fact that most of the buildings that you think are condos are actually multi-purpose, mixed-use structures that incorporate retail and office space at the lower levels of the building, so sorting out the condo isn't as easy as you might think, and oftentimes, what you think of as a condo isn't really just a condo. In my book, a tall building is a tall building. A skyline is a skyline. What makes someone say the Miami skyline is misleading? If it's a very tall building and I can live on one of the upper floors, I think that's even better. Our mass transit system is sorely lacking. Getting people to live, work, and play downtown is precisely what we need to do. It's not like we are a total beach town with no financial district or CBD. That's the city across the bay - Miami Beach.

Originally Posted by chicagogeorge

^
Miami is totally booming, at about the same rate as NYC and Chicago. In 20 years Miami may even surpass Houston, L.A., Seatle.... in terms of skyline if their current boom continues.

We've already done it since this thread was started. Statistically, Miami now has the third largest skyline in the U.S. with the number of tall buildings over all that it has in its downtown. If you're into height, be patient, more is coming, although we have a height restriction of 1,010 feet.

Originally Posted by Aceventura

I can only foresee bad things for this thread.

I'll see what I can do. BTW, the boys are planning something for me and I don't want you to miss out. Talk to Spellbound or Endeavor305. They won't be inviting anybody who didn't acknowledge my posts on the Club 50 at SkyscraperCity thread. That was my request.

image hosted on flickr

CSC_0748 by QuantumX, on Flickr

[QuantumX]

This isn't even the entire Miami skyline. It is very difficult these days to get the entire Miami skyline into one frame and do it justice. I did my best below. This photo below represents the full span of the Miami skyline as it stands today with buildings over 500 feet tall. Many have been approved for the spaces in-between and to the north outside of the right side of the frame of this photo.

image hosted on flickr

DSC_0981 by QuantumX, on Flickr

[QuantumX]

This photo represents the full span of the Miami skyline in terms of what has been zoned for skyscrapers and what have been approved. If you slice the photo down the middle roughly, on the right-hand side of the photograph, we can only build to 649 feet because that district (Edgewater) is directly in line with MIA runways. An 800-footer was planned there until the developer was told he couldn't build it. Then, the market crashed before the developer could reconfigure the project.

If you slice the photo into thirds, the left-hand side represents where we can build up to 1,010 feet. That is our financial district and CBD.

image hosted on flickr

DSC_0336 by QuantumX, on Flickr

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by akilina123

Is Miami really starting to become the first unamerican city in america?

No. That's a different topic, BTW!

[Sarcasticity]

Originally Posted by akilina123

Is Miami really starting to become the first unamerican city in america?

Unamerican? How so? and haven't we already established the "American" is just an idea. No state or city is more "American" than the other.

[-Corey-]

I've been in San Francisco and I dont think so.. ... Maybe in 20 years ... And i don't know where did u get that idea of Miami being East Coast's second city. Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Charlotte and even Atlanta would be ahead of Miami.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by -Corey-

I've been in San Francisco and I dont think so.. ... Maybe in 20 years ... And i don't know where did u get that idea of Miami being East Coast's second city. Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Charlotte and even Atlanta would be ahead of Miami.

Most of the cities you've mentioned though are not coastal cities.

[Hia-leah JDM]

Originally Posted by -Corey-

Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Charlotte and even Atlanta would be ahead of Miami.

Charlotte doesn't belong in that group.

Everything else you said is highly debatable.

[fredcalif]

Originally Posted by -Corey-

I've been in San Francisco and I dont think so.. ... Maybe in 20 years ... And i don't know where did u get that idea of Miami being East Coast's second city. Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Charlotte and even Atlanta would be ahead of Miami.

I agree wtih you

specially San Francisco, that is what we called a CITY
Downtown SF is light years ahead of MIami, Metreon, union Square, BART, Embarcadero center, Yerba Buena center, the MOscone Center, the theater district, San Francisco Centre, Fisherman wharf, Golden Gate, Golden Gate park
and I can go on and on.

there is no way to compare Miami to SF

[QuantumX]

We already know how you feel. You don't need to post anything.

[goonsta]

Originally Posted by fredcalif

I agree wtih you

Downtown SF is light years ahead of MIami, Metreon, union Square, BART, Embarcadero center, Yerba Buena center, the MOscone Center, the theater district, San Francisco Centre, Fisherman wharf, Golden Gate, Golden Gate park
and I can go on and on.

I"m confused, you just said that downtown SF is light years ahead of a bunch of attractions in downtown SF.