Will Seattle ever get another super-tall skyscraper? (Bellevue: neighborhoods, construction)

[GatsbyGatz]

I love Seattle, but one aspect of the city which I don't love is the strong NIMBY presence. Seattle is currently experiencing rapid growth, yet NIMBYs keep trying to preserve Seattle as if it's some mid-sized little provincial city.

One example of this ridiculous NIMBY mentality are the asinine zoning laws that limit building heights. I completely understand why zoning should limit building heights directly surrounding the Space Needle for cultural purposes. But beyond that, why on earth is Downtown Seattle/South Lake Union/Belltown so limited by stupid zoning laws? Upon viewing a map of Downtown zoning laws, there is only an area of 23 blocks downtown that have "unlimited" zoning heights. And of those 23 blocks, only 2-3 of those blocks would ever realistically be cleared out to make way for a new supertall. THAT'S IT. Beyond that, all other buildings in downtown are limited to 300-400 feet. Way to be forward thinking, Seattle!

Why is Seattle's city planning department so backwards? Do they want Seattle to be some backwater city and miss out on the opportunity to not grow up into a major city? OR do you think the lowering of building heights is a good thing and that it is wise to manage the levels of growth in Seattle in order to form a sustainable city. Share your thoughts!

[BATCAT]

I think you need to rephrase the above, but try to use the term "NIMBY" a little bit more.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by BATCAT

I think you need to rephrase the above, but try to use the term "NIMBY" a little bit more.

Okay, I shortened down my rant and focused this discussion on whether or not Seattle has a chance to ever get another supertall given the tight zoning limitations placed on building heights.

[Inkpoe]

I'm more excited about Bellevue DT growing. They are showing more progression, but what might really... no... definitely going to help with the urbanness is the light rail connection.

I think for Seattle to really "grow" is if they sacrifice a portion of "China town" (International District) and start building there. There's huge swaths that are... underutilized, and pretty dead in terms of activity, vibrancy and flavor.

[eskercurve]

Why would you want some garish thing standing taller than 30-40 stories anyway? Seattle isn't a megacity that needs 100+ stories. I would much prefer to see more low-rise buildings spread out from downtown that fosters a light rail or subway system.

In short, my argument is if you have a huge downtown like Chicago or NYC or Houston, sure, a huge office building or something makes sense. There's the infrastructure there to support it. Not in Seattle. No way jose. And it would look out of place if someone just plopped a huge building there. It would ruin the skyline. Gradual steps. Forward thinking is more than just wanting density. It's building the infrastructure at the same time to support it and unless you don't live here, you can't imagine that Seattle has no infrastructure problems. Come talk to me when Seattle's got a population of 2 million and has subways and light rail and bus lines to accommodate the huge population and needs a supertall building. Until then, I would like to foster the outerlying neighborhoods and make them a little denser to attract more mom and pop shops.

[cjg5]

You just MAY want to blame the FAA for some of Seattle's height restriction. Downtown Seattle lies very close to TWO international airports. Also, seaplanes regularly take off from and land on Lake Union daily. The Columbia Center was originally supposed to be over 1,000 feet tall, until the FAA said no.

[grapico]

I don't think seattle needs another super tall? Why? It would be better to start doing fill in on the remaining street level parking lots. eskercurve, even houston doesn't make much sense, they have tons of empty areas and street level there is terrible in comparison to Seattle.

[UrbanAdventurer]

There isn't much desire or incentive in recent decades to build 1000+ ft office buildings, for whatever reason, unless a couple of them get knocked down in terrorist attacks. (And look how long that took to happen...13 years later it's still a construction zone.)

Nowadays sustainability and preserving the natural environment is the rage. Skyscrapers in South Lake Union would block views of the water and would cast long shadows onto the lake during certain times of the year, and the lake is for everyone to enjoy...not just those who can afford to perch themselves high enough.

[Molli]

I'm not sure in this market that there is much development of really tall sky scrapers happening anywhere in the county is there?

[BellevueNative]

There is another website devoted to discussion of skyscrapers. That's all I'll say about that.