Dallas is losing Texas’ tall building race.
Both Houston and Austin now top Big D in terms of skyscrapers, according to a new report by Texas Real Estate Source.
Houston’s high-rises total 30,498 feet tall when combined. In Austin, tall buildings add up to almost 24,000 feet in height.
Dallas stacks up to only about 22,000 combined feet of skyscrapers.
Most of Dallas’ skyscrapers were constructed back in the 1980s. The tallest recent additions to the skyline have been apartments, not offices. The Amli Fountain Place high-rise downtown is 45 floors. The new 40-story Victor tower is in Victory Park. The Atelier apartment tower in the Arts District is 41 stories.
Dallas’ tallest skyscraper is the 72-story Bank of America Plaza, which opened in 1985. Since then no other building in North Texas has come close in height.
Austin has seen a downtown building boom with the growth of tech firms in the city. However, an 80-story skyscraper that was to give Austin the state’s tallest building was recently downsized to just 45 floors.
“It was no surprise to see Houston take first place,” Texas Real Estate Source said in its report. “The city’s zoning laws allow for much more vertical growth, and its longstanding connection with oil and gas has made it the crown jewel of Texas’ economy. However, Austin’s projected growth might tell us more about the state’s future than we think.”
Based on projects under construction or planned, Austin will soon surpass Houston in the competition to build tall towers.
San Antonio was no match for the other Texas major metros.
“San Antonio’s skyscrapers don’t quite match up to its population,” Texas Real Estate Source found. “Despite housing more than 1.4 million people, its total skyscraper height barely breaks the 10,000-foot mark.”
Even with all the recent construction, the combined height of all of Texas’ skyscrapers still falls short of New York City’s total. Its tallest building, the 94-floor One World Trade Center, soars 1,776 feet into the air. It ranks as the world’s sixth tallest building.
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the planet’s tallest building, with 163 floors stretching 2,717 feet into the sky.
