Why There Are No Skyscrapers in the Middle of Manhattan (2012)

http://observer.com/2012/01/uncanny-valley-the-real-reason-there-are-no-skyscrapers-in-the-middle-of-manhattan/

by monort • 11 years ago

45 21 11 years ago

observer.com

pc86• 11 years ago

(2012)

dang• 11 years ago

Good catch. Added.

Amorymeltzer• 11 years ago

Two points:

- It's only the "middle" if you ignore everything above 59th street. Which is fair if you're considering skyscrapers but otherwise quite false.

- The two peaks roughly correspond to the old city in lower Manhattan, where the financial district is, and to the bottom of central park, where the views are.

CPLX2• 11 years ago

I'd hazard a guess that it's not the views, but three giant transportation hubs (grand central, penn station, and the port authority) that form the axis of the midtown high rise district. Looking out the window is nice, but it's filling those buildings with people every morning that comprises the real magic of a central business district.

AznHisoka• 11 years ago

Heh as a long time commuter from lower Manhattan to Queens, I always considered 59th street the top of Manhattan. Everything above it doesn't matter (to me)

rmxt• 11 years ago

For all of the people that I've come across that have said this (or something similar)...I've not once come across a satisfying reason as to why people take pride in their limited geographic or experiential knowledge of NYC and all/more of its neighborhoods. Sure, all of your needs might be met in X part of the city; but forgoing Y part of the city is missing out on so much more.

krschultz• 11 years ago

It's all zoning. Which means it's all politics. At best you can come up with some historical explanations for how certain neighborhoods evolved, but really it is practically random.

ilzmastr2• 11 years ago

"Therein, he posited his belief in a correlation between bedrock and big buildings, and like the Empire State Building" - What a weird sentence. Like a skyscraper being built successfully is some random event that can be used to indicate bedrock. Are measurements of the bedrock really that hard to come by?

p.s. How old is the quote at the end lol? "traipsing through ... Soho to get to work? That land was cheap, but the location was worthless"

[Some](http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/092515...) would say soho is the most expensive neighborhood now

potatolicious2• 11 years ago

The full quote is "Like cavemen following mammoth across the Bering Strait, early developers were following their prey. “Who’s moving north?” Mr. Barr said. “It’s the wealthy and the middle class. If you’re an insurance salesman, do you really want to be traipsing through the slums of Five Points or the factories of Soho to get to work?"

The author is talking about the historical drivers of Midtown's development.

Soho has only been an expensive neighborhood for ~15-20 years, a good century after the rise of Midtown. Back then it was a light industrial district of warehouses and factories with dirty streets, high crime, and high noise. It's important to note that this is pre-containerization, so ships from all over the world docked along the East River and Hudson River, supplying and shipping to/from the factories of Lower Manhattan. The streets were filthy and filled with heavy freight, and its main redeeming value is proximity to the ports.

After containerization and the ports moved away, Soho fell into disrepair as industry moved to be closer to supply lines. In the 60s and 70s artists took over many of the spaces because they were big but the area was undesirable enough to be affordable. It wasn't until the 90s that the area started being gentrified, and it wasn't until the 00s that the area became outrageously expensive.

Ditto Five Points, which doesn't even exist as a discernible neighborhood anymore. Nowadays it's the giant court house complex, but back then it was a poor and dangerous neighborhood.

The NYC from 2000-2016 is not at all like the NYC from the 70s and before.

ilzmastr2• 11 years ago

Thank you. Makes sense.

jchendy• 11 years ago

The article doesn't really answer the question. It's more like "here's some evidence that a popular myth is incorrect."

noodles23• 11 years ago

I thought this was a joke with the answer being "because there's a giant park instead of buildings"

sageikosa2• 11 years ago

The park's on the other side of the second cluster of high-rises.

pluckytree• 11 years ago

I had trouble getting past the first sentence. That NYC has the finest skyline in the world is a fact? Well, I think it’s ugly and uninspiring. And that’s not a fact. Also, seems extremely odd to not just ask developers why they don’t build skyscrapers in the middle of the island? They would be able to tell you whether it’s lack of feasibility or that no one has asked them to do it.

dkrich• 11 years ago

I'm not an expert on New York's history, but in a general sense, I don't find the clustering of buildings all that surprising. After all, what's the alternative? Highrises built sporadically around the island in isolated areas? A blanket of highrises covering the entire island? Once an area becomes established as a center of business (for whatever reason), there's a real benefit of living and working in close proximity so consequently other developments take place in the area.

Apart from NYC, it seems to me that roughly every major city I have ever visited had the exact same clustering in certain areas.

jakevoytko• 11 years ago

Not to mention the transportation network that has built up around these areas. For instance, Midtown is fed by multiple train stations, a bus station, multiple tunnels, and an incredible nexus of subway stations. You couldn't add a new high-density area without adding it in an area that's well-served by transportation.

Reflexively, the most likely candidate for a new skyscraper patch (just weighed by transportation support) falls between the two peaks. 14th street is near Penn Station, has the usual grab-bag of uptown/downtown Manhattan subways, the PATH, is also near a tunnel, and has the L train. Not sure why this hasn't happened past zoning reasons.

padobson• 11 years ago

So we should probably start a crowdfunding venture to purchase air rights around 14th street.

Why There Are No Skyscrapers in the Middle of Manhattan (2012)

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