{"id":169178,"date":"2025-09-20T06:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T06:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/169178\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T06:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T06:35:04","slug":"the-biggest-u-s-city-without-a-skyscraper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/169178\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest U.S. city without a skyscraper"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 Phoenix has almost everything: award-winning food, hundreds of desert trails, a vibrant arts scene, and major league sports.<\/p>\n

But look up, and you\u2019ll notice something missing. Unlike other major U.S. cities, Phoenix\u2019s skyline has no true skyscraper. In fact, as the 5th biggest city in the country by population, it\u2019s the largest without one.<\/p>\n

The tallest building in the city and in Arizona, the Chase Tower, tops out at 483 feet. While impressive, it\u2019s just shy of the 492-foot threshold the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat uses to define a skyscraper<\/a>. And no, you could not go put a basketball hoop on top of the tower to meet the requirement, as buildings are measured to their \u201carchitectural top\u201d.<\/p>\n

So why did the Valley spread outward instead of upward? Josh Bednarek, the City of Phoenix\u2019s Planning and Development Director, says it goes back to agriculture shaping the region for decades, allowing development to stretch across wide swaths of open land. Then, as the freeway system expanded, the city sprawled even farther.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 1980s, the city started thinking about this polycentric plan for a city, an idea you would have small hubs throughout the city not just downtown,\u201d Bednarek said. \u201cIt\u2019s why you see some height around 24th and Camelback, the idea was never to concentrate that height in downtown or in one spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you see taller clusters of buildings near 24th Street and Camelback Road, rather than a concentrated downtown skyline.<\/p>\n

But a city like Dallas has plenty of Urban sprawl and plenty of skyscrapers. Despite being the 9th most populated U.S. city<\/a>, they have 18 of them. So, lots of available land can\u2019t be the only reason Phoenix doesn\u2019t have a skyscraper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was outside the city when they first built it, but then urban sprawl encroached upon that,\u201d Captain Ron Nielsen, a former commercial pilot, said.<\/p>\n

The other major reason we don\u2019t have a skyscraper is Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Located just minutes from downtown, Sky Harbor comes with strict FAA building height limits around it to keep flight paths safe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the most rock-solid parts of aviation, making sure that it\u2019s safe to approach an airport, to climb out of it, and clearance to maneuver if you had an engine failure,\u201d Nielsen said.<\/p>\n

Despite those challenges, Phoenix\u2019s skyline may soon get taller. The Astra Tower, now planned to break ground downtown in 2026<\/a>, is designed to reach 541 feet, officially making it the city\u2019s first skyscraper.<\/p>\n

Still, Bednarek says Phoenix\u2019s identity has never been about mimicking Manhattan or Chicago. For him, the desert views and mountain silhouettes are just as iconic as any glass-and-steel tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhoenix just has its own unique story,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of what we\u2019ve done, and excited for what\u2019s next as a city.\u201d<\/p>\n

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