Why aren't there more high rises in Denver? (Colorado Springs, Aurora: homes, metro area)

[alloo66]

I've always wanted to see a mile high tower. Probably because Denver is a suburban sprawl kind of place like the rest of the US. Not a real city.

[gray-beard]

The more Denver tries to show the world that it is not still a cow town, the more the world see's that it still is.
Denver will always be a cow town in the middle of fly over country.
I have lived here 72 years and I like Denver the way it is.

[BabyBoomers2]

Compared to when we lived in Colorado before (mid 2000 to Oct 2007), Denver has turned into a major city. I use to work just a mile north of Coors Field.

When we returned to Colorado in Aug. 2019, and had to drive south thru Denver, we could definitely see how much it's grown since we left. Myself, I sure wouldn't think of Denver as a "cow town" anymore. Not even close. Well, perhaps "close" when the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo is there, but that's it.

[synapse]

Agreed. Back in the 1990's I think Denver was viewed kind of like Albuquerque and Portland and even Seattle - quiet, western towns. With people moving west and southeast over the years, I think of Denver as a fairly major metro. Not Chicago, sure, but also not El Paso.

[Mike from back east]

Why aren't there more high rises in Denver? Because when land is both cheap and plentiful (compared to coastal areas) there's no need to go vertical, just go further out, halfway to Kansas, and that's what Denver did. Denver has long since built out to the foothills on the west side so they went east.

Old coastal cities, especially back east, grew up land-constrained, so they went vertical as soon as good steel and elevators were perfected. We see this in NYC and Boston where land is hemmed in by river / bay / ocean.

On the west coast, San Francisco is land-constrained so it has quite a skyline. The city is so short of land that they moved most of their cemeteries south to Colma, CA to free up land for building stuff.

[vunderbar]

Originally Posted by synapse

I think of Denver as a fairly major metro.

I like that qualifying "fairly."

I always tell people: "Denver is a SMALL city. With a small, compact downtown. And surrounded by a lot of residential areas, some more urban than others (think Capitol Hill.) Repeat after me: not a major CITY. Certainly NOT a metropolis. A SMALL city." (And that's totally OK, as long as what's there is fun, interesting and original.)

[Mezter]

Calling a city of 3M+ people a cowtown or "small" is just kinda wild to me lol. Denver's not large but it has amenities that a true small city (Like Colorado Springs) doesn't and won't have anytime soon.

I agree with Mike though. There's way too much room for outer expansion and not much of a need to build up like in places that have limited space to grow. The Denver area practically has more room to expand outward than any other city in the country.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Mezter

Calling a city of 3M+ people a cowtown or "small" is just kinda wild to me lol.

The City & County Denver is 700K.

[Mezter]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

The City & County Denver is 700K.

I’m talking about the metro area. Does anyone really use city limits to determine the size of a city?

[DenverBrian]

I seem to recall that the CBD has view plane restrictions. Unlike most cities, Denver has something to the west that people like to actually gaze at when they're in their condos or offices.