Phoenix has never been a high-rise haven, with only one true skyscraper. But with lots of projects on the horizon, is our skyline moving on up?
By Lauren Loftus | Phoenix Magazine
In 1920, Downtown Phoenix got its first skyscraper. Of course, at that time, “scraping the sky” meant the Heard Building need only be seven stories tall. Fifty-two years later, the city built its last true ’scraper Valley Center, now known as Chase Tower, which sold in a foreclosure deal for $79 million in May to Wentworth Properties.
Today, city officials say there’s never been more upward growth for Phoenix’s Downtown skyline, with 14 mid- to high-rise buildings starting construction by next summer. But none of the newbuilds will reach the height of Chase Tower, which is itself petite compared to other hulking skyscrapers – at 483 feet, you could stack five Chase Towers on top of each other and still not reach the top of the world’s tallest, Burj Khalifa in Dubai. So, though our skyline – an ill-planned, thin line of concrete buildings spread higgledy-piggledy along Central Avenue – will become fuller, it seems worth asking: Will it also become more iconic?
