Word: downtowner
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...major question is how the new buildings should define the life of the city. Traditionally, that decision is left to individual developers. In Los Angeles, for example, Occidental Petroleum decided that the financial center would move south of the old downtown, and built its headquarters in the likeliest southern line of growth. But Atlantic Richfield and three banks bet the movement would be westward and built their towers accordingly. As things turned out, the west won, which leaves Occidental in solitary splendor, at least temporarily. Not that it matters: the building boom in Los Angeles is not only around...
...practically reinvented urban renewal in the early 1960s by developing a sound plan to help its decrepit downtown. Then the city's redevelopment agency, which had muscle and was willing to use it, saw that the plan was followed. By having veto power over design schemes, the agency made sure developers used major architects. As a result, planning became a Boston habit...
...past two years, Boston's plans, like those of most cities, have been slowed by inflation, recession and the gradual drying up of federal urban renewal funds. Even so, two new projects are almost ready to go. On the southern edge of downtown, an old railroad terminal will be improved to serve as a transportation center that should anchor other developments in the area. In the very heart of the downtown retail area, demolition has begun on the site for a $220 million shopping project like no other in the U.S. Called Lafayette Place, it will include department stores...
Houston's Gusher. Perhaps the most exciting city in the U.S. today-unplanned, individualistic, a roaring gusher of construction-is Houston. It is the energy capital of America, with more than 50 oil and natural-gas companies headquartered downtown. This clustering keeps the central city healthy, because service firms want to be near the energy giants. Since times are so good for the oil companies, everybody is prospering. Indeed, competition from the suburbs is welcomed. As Real Estate Executive Perry Waughtal puts it, "There's enough business to go around...
Houston has always had a go-go tradition. The city started as a real estate promotion in 1836 and, says Louie Welch, a five-term Houston mayor who now heads the local Chamber of Commerce, "it still is." Since 1970, 14 major buildings have gone up downtown. What is surprising, though, is that these buildings display true design quality, while those in Dallas and Fort Worth by and large do not. The explanation is not wealth, but a lively competition between builders, plus the sophistication of Houston office-space renters...