Why the Fifth-Largest City in the U.S. Doesn’t Have a Single Skyscraper

This is Phoenix, the largest city in the

state of Arizona and the fifth largest

in the US with a population of

approximately 1.6 million people.

Phoenix is one of the strangest major

cities in the US for many reasons, but

one thing stands out, the city's lack of

skyscrapers. In fact, Phoenix doesn't

have a single building exceeding 490 ft,

approximately 150 m, which is the

minimum height typically used to define

a true skyscraper. The tallest building

in the city is Chase Tower, standing at

483 ft or 147 m, and it has held that

title since 1972.

So, why does Phoenix choose not to build

skyscrapers like almost all other major

American cities?

Phoenix wasn't always a big city. If we

go back about 80 years to 1950, it had a

population of just over 100,000 after a

slow but steady growth from the year it

was founded in 1868.

But this would quickly change. Over the

next few decades, the city's population

exploded, averaging a 4% annual growth

rate over almost the entire latter half

of the century. This was mainly due to

the invention of the air conditioning,

which made the extreme desert heat more

tolerable. Also, the post-war population

boom and the rise of the automobile.

Suddenly, a city in the middle of the

desert became one of the most desirable

places to live in the entire country.

Because Phoenix was surrounded by

basically nothing else other than flat

land in every direction, developers

didn't have to compete for small,

expensive parcels downtown, but could

instead just buy up cheap land on the

edge of the metro and turn it into new

suburbs. By the 1980s, Phoenix had

become a model for carcentric sprawl.

The entire city was practically built

for cars, consisting of mainly sparssely

populated neighborhoods made out of

single family homes, strip malls, and

acres of parking space. And because much

of Phoenix's economy was centered on

real estate, construction, and service

industries, which do not require dense

concentrations of office spaces and tall

buildings, there was never a strong

economic or logistical reason to build

up. unlike older American cities that

were built before the rise of the

automobile. So, Phoenix just kept

spreading. The result? Well, Phoenix is

the fifth biggest city in the US and

still one of the fastest growing large

cities in the country. In fact, Phoenix

is over 500 square miles in size. That's

larger than Los Angeles, New York, and

nearly five times the size of Detroit.

And yet its skyline is nowhere near as

impressive as many other US cities. As I

mentioned earlier, the city doesn't have

a single building above 492 ft or 150 m,

which is the typical minimum height a

building has to be in order to be

classified as a real skyscraper. Compare

this to New York alone. It has more than

300, while Chicago has around 140 and

Miami 67. Phoenix is actually the only

one of the top 10 biggest cities in the

US that doesn't have at least one

skyscraper. But Phoenix history and

decision to grow wide instead of tall is

just one part of the story. Because even

if Phoenix wanted to build skyscrapers,

there are a few major things standing in

its way. The main reason actually has to

do with the city's airport. You see,

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

was originally established back in 1928,

way before Phoenix population boomed,

and because there was so much space, the

city decided to build it just 3 mi from

the city center so people could access

it quickly. As the city grew, it simply

expanded around the airport. And as a

result, Phoenix is one of the few major

cities in the US where the airport is

located right next to downtown. But why

does this matter? Well, it creates a

major problem for tall buildings.

Because of how close downtown Phoenix is

to the flight paths for planes arriving

and departing from Sky Harbor, the

Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA,

has placed strict height limits on what

can be built in the area. The FAA's job

is to make sure nothing interferes with

the airspace. Planes need to safely land

and take off. That means anything tall,

especially within a certain radius of an

airport, gets heavily scrutinized. So,

every building proposal has to go

through a FAA review process. And if it

exceeds certain height thresholds, it

gets flagged or outright denied. In most

of the downtown core, the FAA generally

caps new construction at around 500 ft

or 152 m, and in some areas even lower.

That's why the tallest building in the

entire city, Chase Tower, stands at 483

ft and it was built way back in 1972

before today's stricter FAA enforcement

rules were fully in place. Zoning also

plays a part in it. Most of Phoenix is

zoned for lowdensity development and

particularly favors single family homes

and car- ccentric developments. While

there isn't enough information on

exactly what percentage of the city is

zoned exclusively for single family

homes, a look at this map gives you a

good view where all of the bright yellow

are made out of single family

residential and the orange is multif

family residential showing a clear

majority. And unlike landscares cities

like New York, San Francisco, or Los

Angeles, where the median home price per

square foot is well above $600, Phoenix

is still relatively affordable at just

around $284 per square foot. Even in

Miami, the price is nearly doubled that

of Phoenix at close to $500 per square

foot. The high cost of land in these

cities forced developers to build

upwards, unlike Phoenix, where the

return on investment for a high-rise

just isn't always there. Building out

horizontally simply makes more economic

sense, and most developers simply don't

see a reason to build tall.

So, how does the future look for

skyscraper construction in the city?

Well, the city is currently making an

effort to revitalize downtown, and one

of the main developments in the pipeline

is the Astra Tower, a two tower project

that will rise 44 stories and 542 ft

tall, which means it will surpass the

Chase Tower as the tallest building in

the city and become its first real

skyscraper. The Astra is planned to

break ground at the end of this year and

is projected to be completed in about 3

years. But how come it's even allowed to

go up? The strictest height caps are

east of downtown, which is closer to the

airport. But Astra site on Second Avenue

between Van Burn and Filillmore Streets

is far enough west that the height limit

is much higher, therefore allowing the

skyscraper to legally go up. The city

also wants to renovate the Chase Tower,

which has sat vacant ever since 2021.

Alongside these two projects, several

other high-rise buildings are either

under construction, approved, or in the

proposal pipeline. However, these are

all much shorter. So, while the height

restrictions most likely aren't going

anywhere, Phoenix is still making

progress on its vertical construction,

one tower at a time. Thank you for

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