Dive Brief:

• After height concerns were raised by the Federal Aviation Administration, developer Crescent Heights Inspiration Living has downsized its plans for a Seattle skyscraper to 94 stories, according to The Seattle Times.
• Crescent Heights has also reduced the number of residential units from 1,200 to 1,100; decreased office space from 150,000 square feet to 85,000 square feet; and cut the number of hotel rooms at the base of the building in half.
• At its original height of 1,111 feet, the tower dubbed 4/C drew the attention of the FAA last month, and the agency issued owners a Notice of Presumed Hazard stating that the building’s height would have an "adverse physical or electromagnetic interference effect upon navigable airspace or air navigation facilities." The FAA also expressed concern that construction cranes could interfere with Harborview Medical Center helicopter traffic, resulting in a potential temporary closure of its helipad.

Dive Insight:

Last month, the consulting engineer for the skyscraper project said that those types of FAA notices are standard for very tall buildings and that usually an agreement can be worked out with the FAA and the owner. Crescent Heights agreed and said the FAA Notice of Presumed Hazard was part of a "standard, business-as-usual review process" and "all development projects are presumed to be hazards until determined otherwise."

Even with modifications, 4/C will still most likely be what the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat calls "supertall," or more than 984 feet tall. But according to the CTBUH, there are more than 100 of those buildings now, which means attention has turned to "megatall" buildings, or those over 1,968 feet.

Nevertheless, some experts predict a pushback against such tall buildings, and citizens groups have already organized to protest their construction.

"More and more opposition groups are forming (against skyscraper developments), and even developers and architects working on skyscrapers appear defensive and even somewhat apologetic," London architect and activist against skyscraper construction Barbara Weiss told Dezeen last month.