Trump on the hunt in hub: Mogul?s empire eyeing properties

buju b said:
I'll give you Paris [being a Real city in the absence of a major skyline] and I will likewise agree that there are numerous cities in the US (especially in the sun belt) with a lot of tall buildings but lacking much of city 'feel'.

That said, if you were to list your top 10 cities in the US and the world, I would be surprised if more than half of each list did not have a fairly dramatic skyline.
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Most European cities do not have a dramatic skyline. Some Asian cities do, e.g., Hong Kong, Shanghai. IMO, I consider only two US cities having a dramatic skyline: NYC and Chicago. San Francisco is akin to Boston. Seattle is distinctive. San Diego, but scarily so if you are flying in. Miami's is new and overbuilt.
 
There are plenty of cities with impressive skylines that nobody gives a hoot about....there are lot of more important aspects to a city than how cool its skyline looks...
 
The huge skyline in Maimi (mostly built in the last 5 years!) is what happens when you have fast government, no NIMBY power, and of course very high demand. New towers are being built by the hundreds, you may say its overbuilt as the prices are going down but I see it as the cooling of exaggerated condo prices to a stable level. The prices going down will fuel even more development, since I would guess that most people would love a high-rise condo in a great city (party and otherwise) with a beautiful view of the skyline (Miami or Miami Beach) or the beautiful water and lush colors of Miami if they can afford it (of course my knowledge is limited to watching CSI: Miami lol but Miami looks like PARADISE!!!).
 
^man, Miami aint no great shakes. Its a completely different animal than a NE city. The entire area around it is pretty dangerous and NOBODY speaks english. I dont have a problem with minorities but it sucks when you never know whats going on. It feels alot like LA, very superficial and very fruity. Best thing about Miami is the weather. Only Southern FLA really has the good weather thats kinda a myth northerners have about it.
Alot of the outskirts just look like shit. all one story boring buildings. Cuban food is just aight.
But by FAR the closest feeling to a real city in Florida by a mile. And probably the whole southeast but I havent really spent much time in Atlanta. They do have some beautiful condo hi rises. They're everywhere along the beach and they are so beautiful.
Best thing about Miami and the southeast: they know how to pimp out a car. 88 caprice candy blue on GIANT rims and a big block. its a beautiful thing. and you can tint your windows more in fla.
 
Re: Trump on the hunt in hub: Mogul’s empire eyeing properties

Miami and LA definately have higher density metro areas then Boston, but that's because of high-density sprawl, not much urbanity. I'm just stating that Miami's towers look great but I also realize that they're quite car-dependent and sprawly unlike Boston's. (and Miami isn't that bad, New Orleans has a higher crime rate (2x Rio's murder rate, I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but NO is quite dangerous and slummy after Katrina), and learn Spanish if you want to live and interact there with all cultures there in the very multicultural Miami, it should be compulsary in school, it's America's 2nd language)

What's wrong with nobody speaking english and not knowing what's going on? Besides, most people do speak English there and learning Spanish will only help you.
 
Miami has it's upside for sure, but if you make a wrong turn, the locals can be very unforgiving (i had rocks thrown at my car in South Beach last January). There are no real lines between nice areas, and crappy areas and believe me, the crappy areas feel very third world. As far as a "city feel" Miami is the only city i've been to in Florida with that. I would argue that New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston, SC are some other Southern cities with a real Urban feel without having the prototypical "sunbelt skyline" (see Atlanta or Charlotte).

As far as architecture goes, Miami is Boston's worst nightmare. Picture the Fan Pier renderings but taller and more widespread and you have Miami Beach. There are some nice towers downtown, but noting distinctive that wouldn't fit in Anywheresville, USA.

To get back on topic, I would be interested to see what Trump has to offer. I like his New York work, but i find the Chicago tower repulsive. What i've seen of the Toronto renderings I like, but i would be curious to see what he's got up his sleeve.
 
Miami architecture fits Miami and Boston architecture fits Boston. I'm just saying that Miami architecture looks better and cooler but that's also due to the exquisite surroundings. Boston architecture won't fit Miami and vice versa.

"There are some nice towers downtown, but noting distinctive that wouldn't fit in Anywheresville, USA."

You can say that about any city's towers, skyscrapers are international architecture and they can fit in almost any city and aren't very distinctive based on the city (the tower can be in any city, what and where the city is doesn't influence most tower's designs)

Boston pretty much doesn't have crappy areas, some gritty areas, but no place where you'll get pelted by rocks (you got pelted by rocks in South Beach, party central and pretty much central Miami, that won't happen anywhere in Boston). Miami has lots of immigrants moving into new housing and poor and corrupt government (approves almost all projects though, that's what matters a lot) which doesn't build any affordable housing. People park on the curb in Miami, there's external ACs everywhere, so it looks more then a little Central or South American Third World.
 
Re: Miami.

One picture is worth 10,000 words in this instance. The Miami Dade housing market as of Nov 2007.
ar119754031351684.jpg


In 2006 or so, there were 55,000 condos being built or approved to be built in Miami, before the bubble burst. 8000 new condos were to come on the market in 2007, and over 13,000 condos this year. Eighty percent of condo buyers in Miami were speculators. Between 1995 and 2004, 11,000 new condos were built in Miami, an average of 1,100 a year.

And if you live near the ocean in FL, be prepared for property insurance costs that are higher than real property taxes. From an AARP bulletin:
As it stands, "it's not unusual" for homeowners in South Florida's Dade County to pay about $12,000 to $13,000 annually for policies covering fire, theft, contents and wind damage for a home worth $150,000, says Rocky Scott, a spokesman for Citizens Property.
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A lot of people are bailing from oceanfront property in FL because of the insurance costs.

Graph from:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/305713/Dade-County-Market-Report
 
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Paris definitely has a significant skyline of high rise buildings; it's just not what most of us want to see when we think of Paris.

BarbaricManchurian, you should really get to Miami. Seeing it in person is a bit different than watching CSI.
 
I go to Miami each November and I can tell you it has an incredibly impressive skyline. IMO it's the most impressive collection of tall, thin buildings on the east coast outside Manhattan.

The growth of Miami highlights for me how much impact a city's skyline has on the public's perception of a place. Miami is a pretty cosmopolitan place, but when you fly into Miami International or drive toward the city down 95 and you see dozens upon dozens of tall, thin buildings, you are left with the impression that Miami is bigger and more important that it is. Metro Boston is bigger in population than Miami-Dade and, dwarfs it from economic perspective, but a visitor to each city would think the opposite is true.
 
nico said:
Paris definitely has a significant skyline of high rise buildings; it's just not what most of us want to see when we think of Paris.
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Are you thinking of La Defense? If so, that sits outside Paris city limits.

ablarc said:
The view from the Arc de Triomphe towards the skyscrapers of La Defense, which is like Houston or Charlotte, but entirely outside the city limits. Within the city limits Haussmann?s spirit pretty much continues to rule; and that spirit insists on a height limitation. This helps account for Paris? remarkably uniform population density. It hardly matters where you emerge from the Metro; you will find roughly the same condition. And that condition is Haussmann?s street wall:
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The city line is marked by the solitary skyscraper (right) at the Porte Maillot. One or two modern buildings have abandoned the mansard rule; the Haussmann zoning must have been amended. The result can be a penthouse with terrace (right middleground). Square ?arch? in distance is meant to echo Arc de Triomphe at a more colossal scale; its legs are office buildings, and a couple of observation floors span between them, while the slender, off-center tensegrity shaft encloses glass elevators loaded with tourists. These wobble as they ascend (French engineering specializes in stretching the envelope: it brought you the Concorde, the Eiffel Tower, the Millau Viaduct, the Citroen, and this).
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Grande Arche de la Fraternit? in La Defense is so cool. I love that area.
 
I love this shot of Paris. Tour Montparnasse could be the most hated skyscraper in the world although there is an observatory in it and offers stunning views and a different perspective.
 
That is a spectacular shot indeed, and it is a beautiful skyline! It looks like what LA would be if LA didn't have the American Sprawl factor.
 
Once again, I question the fascination with skylines.

You are looking at one of the most perfect urban spaces on the planet and you like the skyline in the background?

It reminds me of this. (NSFW?)
 
statler said:
Once again, I question the fascination with skylines.

You are looking at one of the most perfect urban spaces on the planet and you like the skyline in the background?

It reminds me of this. (NSFW?)
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In that photo, the skyline IS the focus. You are correct that Paris is one of the most perfect urban spaces, but that photo is showing about 1/100 of the actual metro Paris area. If the zoom was further out, we wouldn't be talking about the skyline.
 
statler said:
Once again, I question the fascination with skylines.

You are looking at one of the most perfect urban spaces on the planet and you like the skyline in the background?

It reminds me of this. (NSFW?)
Click to expand...

It can go the other way around. It really depends on whether the person prefer skyline over urban spaces. For me, I prefer skyline over urban spaces and thus looking at urban space for me is like looking at futurama over the hot girl.
 
The Paris skyline is interesting mainly for where it is located -- just beyond the city limit -- and for the archway. I did take a trip over there as a tourist, just to see what the area looked like. It's quite a contrast with old Paris.

DC is sort of the same way -- no towers allowed in the city, so they're all across the river in Virginia.
 
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