The Secret NYC Subways Hiding in Plain Sight

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBEdTQtLnxM

550 Madison Avenue, NYC

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/550_Madison_Avenue This building has almost become a stump when compared to the much taller towers.

https://buildingsdb.com/NY/new-york/550-madison-avenue/  

https://www.archdaily.com/611169/ad-classics-at-and-t-building-philip-johnson-and-john-burgee

https://www.lera.com/sony-building This would be the 2nd tallest building if it was in Vancouver, in overall height.

https://www.archiweb.cz/en/b/at-t-building-sony-plaza

https://paulpiazzaarchitect.com/home/2014/09/20/the-sony-tower/ 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ReplicaBuildings/comments/17d39eg/550_madison_att_building_1984_nyc/

ARO (building) in NYC

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARO_(building) 

"ARO is a 62-story, 700-foot-tall (210 m) glass tower with a steel lattice exterior." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARO_(building)#Architecture 210 m vs 150 m

"Calgary House, (formerly known as TELUS Sky) is a 60-storey, 222.3 m (729 ft)" tower. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus_Sky  222 vs 150 m  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quay_Quarter_Tower "The AMP Centre re-opened as Quay Quarter Tower in early 2022, and stands at a height of 216 metres (709 ft) with 54 floors." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quay_Quarter_Tower#AMP_Centre 216 m vs 150 m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_House Another Vancouver stump under 500' vs. 700' and 729'.

Height
Architectural	150.3 m (493 ft)[1]
Technical details
Material	Concrete
Floor count	49
Floor area	60,670 square metres (653,046 sq ft)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_House#Design Only 150 m. 

As usual, things must always be scaled back or watered down in small, rainy Vancouver.

161 Maiden Lane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/161_Maiden_Lane NYC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlWeJp6TGZ8 

https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2026/3/20/at-the-rivers-edge-maiden-lane-and-the-development-of-lower-manhattan

https://newyorkyimby.com/2025/11/seaport-residences-remains-unfinished-and-leaning-at-161-maiden-lane-in-financial-district-manhattan.html 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/02/10/the-leaning-tower-of-new-york 

https://newatlas.com/architecture/one-seaport-leaning-tower-nyc/

https://www.cqa.org.au/post/the-importance-of-foundations-161-maiden-lane 

https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/05/16/stalled-condo-maiden-lane-fdny-hazard/ 

https://www.theb1m.com/video/the-leaning-tower-of-new-york-city The B1M

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/comments/1ch1be9/a_few_more_photos_of_161_maiden_the_news_says_it/

The new ultra-towers set to transform the NYC skyline in the coming years

 https://nypost.com/2026/04/22/real-estate/a-look-inside-the-latest-crop-of-nyc-super-towers/

Ironworkers Memorial Bridge is Metro Vancouver's most congested crossing

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/ironworkers-memorial-metro-vancouver-bridge-traffic-volumes 

Had the-bridge been designed with 2 wide emergency lanes and 2 wide shoulders, things could have been gradually modified and improved. The Iron Bridge could have become an 8 lane crossing for general traffic, plus having 2 express bus or rapid bus lanes. 

https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/ironworkers-bridge-the-most-congested-in-metro-vancouver-report-finds-12148809

Unlike the Queensboro_Bridge in NYC, or the Benjamin_Franklin_Bridge and the Sydney_Harbour_Bridge, this bridge wasn't designed with future rail rapid transit in mind.  

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Ironworkers+Memorial+Bridge

Toronto vs Chicago and NYC

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMQwIyx1O_0 

Working from home can be great, but big cities still need some office towers.

Unlike Chicago and NYC, Toronto has no 100 story office towers. However, it does have residential towers over 100 floors like Melbourne. 

Provincial Vancouver hasn't permitted any office tower to have 40 floor, let alone 50 stories.

Forest Hills station (LIRR)

The best kept secret in NYC real estate is under 20 minutes from Midtown Manhattan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXqsb-alGEg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Hills_station_(LIRR) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Line_(Long_Island_Rail_Road) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Rail_Road#Passenger_lines_and_services 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_station#Station_layout

Architecture Codex #135 Pan Am Building, NYC by Walter Gropius

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajf3nICq64o

Central Park, NYC

 https://www.reddit.com/r/CityPorn/comments/1r92f3b/new_york_most_iconic_city_in_the_world/

270 Park Avenue, NYC

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DTF01QizRQ

Rockefeller Center, NYC

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c19_h-H5l4k

The BRUTAL TRUTH about Living in Washington State

Washington's Dark Side Exposed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrhL0ih2XcI 

A cold, crappy dark and damp fall and winter is common. It's almost as bad as Vancouver, Canada. However, it's important to point out that Seattle and Vancouver never froze over like Minneapolis and Winnipeg, Chicago and Toronto, NYC and Montreal, Boston and Halifax. 

Hudson Yards

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq-VyakJf9c  

NYC

World’s Tallest Towers Comparison

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pmnf8npA8 

There was a time when no structure in BC was allowed to be as tall as Blackpool Tower. Then there was a time when no building in Vancouver was allowed to be as tall as the Seattle Space needle or the Calgary Tower. Even in late 2025, only one Vancouver building has been allowed to be taller than the Calgary Tower. 

Burnaby, Coquitlam and especially Surrey, don't have such imposed height restrictions as stumpy Vancouver. Thus, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey will all be having taller buildings than Vancouver.  

If Montreal can ever have its equivalent of La_Defense or Canary_Wharf, then it might be able to have some tall buildings that would be impressive by Melbourne and Toronto standards. Perhaps even Chicago or NYC standards. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Defense 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Wharf

Newly-Opened overpass at Church Avenue on the B and Q Lines in NYC

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9YON6kFIkU 

New York City's Subway Infrastructure is absolutely WILD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We8_E8uX_tU

Front Window View: NYC Subway - R32 Train from Crescent St through the Yard to 96th S

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPS8Za7CCOY

Cities, the BIG and the small of it

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/CN_Tower_1976.jpg/330px-CN_Tower_1976.jpg , https://www.britannica.com/topic/CN-Tower Standing at a height of 1,815 feet (553 meters)  

1815' divided by 581' is almost 3.13 times the height of a stump in Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbour_Centre "Skyscraperpage lists the buildings height to the roof as being only 139.6 m (458 ft). This is stated to be the height from the Hastings Street entrance while the height from the back entrance on Cordova Street is 146 m (479 ft). It also lists the buildings pinnacle height to the tip of the antenna as being 177.1 m (581 ft)." STUMP!

This Vancouver stump is only 32% of the CN Towers height. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/A_look_downtown_%28759827996%29.jpg/960px-A_look_downtown_%28759827996%29.jpg The Harbour_Centre building should have been on the scale of something like the Hopewell_Centre_(Hong_Kong). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Canadian_Place The BMO. Unlike Chicago, Toronto has no 100 story office towers.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/First_Canadian_Place_August_2017_01.jpg/500px-First_Canadian_Place_August_2017_01.jpg Its a 72 story HQ tower in Toronto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentall_Centre_(Vancouver)#Three_Bentall_Centre A 32 story BC office stump.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Bentall_3.jpg/330px-Bentall_3.jpg

Being from small Vancouver, its amazing that Canada even has one megacity. Toronto is certainly a big city on a lakeshore like Chicago is. Montreal isn't allowed to have buildings as tall as Melbourne, let alone NYC. Montreal has allowed only one office tower to be over 50 floors and a few residential towers in the 60s. 

Calgary has more 50+ story office towers than Denver and Perth. No 40 story office tower exists in BC. The office section of the Harbour_Centre doesn't even have a 30th floor and the revolving restaurant is closer to being like 35 floors up. However, with the overall building being 481 feet, it would be equivalent to 40 floors, if the windows went right up to the top. The flagpole has no windows, but the flag would be like the equivalent of being 48 floors up.

Not just Toronto & Montreal, but Edmonton and Seattle have longer underground train stations than backwards, congested Vancouver. 

The Iron+Bridge, Oak+Street+Bridge, Knight+Street+Bridge & the Arthur+Laing+Bridge should all have a bus+and+bike bridge built next to them. The extremely inadequate Lion+Bridge should have already had a bus and train tunnel close to it. 

World Cup lodging shortfall predicted in Vancouver

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-wants-str-rules-relaxed-for-upcoming-2026-fifa-world-cup-in-vancouver-1.7649128  

The proposed 27-storey hotel tower at the edge of Stanley Park is drawing pushback from West End residents over its scale https://vancouversun.com/news/proposed-west-end-tower-that-aims-to-fill-vancouvers-hotel-shortage Parking lots and almost delapadeted buildings should be selected first. This building still seems to be in reasonable shape. 

https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/vancouver-needs-10k-more-hotel-rooms-says-report-10508458

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-major-hotel-policy-overhaul-room-shortage

https://www.destinationvancouver.com/media/media-releases/BC-hotel-association-provides-recommendations-to-spur-new-hotel-development 

Lots of people in some parts of the West_End end are still accustomed to stumpy buildings, despite the very high land costs. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg/960px-Vancouver-stanley-park.jpg Many other cities aren't afraid to build tall close to the water or parks.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Vancouver_west_end.jpg/960px-Vancouver_west_end.jpg People shouldn't be displace just becaus of a new development. An agreement should be reached so that they can still remain in the new structure. However, it's the height issue that usually keeps popping up. A lot of people that still remember Vancouver as a provincial backwater of a city want it to remain that way for as long as possible.

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2030-2038-barclay-st , https://stop2030barclay.ca 

https://henriquezpartners.com/projects/2030-barclay The height proposal is at lest a dozen floors too short, it should be about 20 stories taller.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2030-barclay-street-vancouver-stanley-park-hotel-tower

https://storeys.com/marcon-barclay-street-vancouver-hotel The issue here is that a lot of people don't want a stump replaced with an atempt of a taller building. The people that live there should have the option to live in the new building. If the city and the developer could reach an agreement to allow the current residents to move into the lower floors of the tower. Then remain there at a reasonable rental rate for as long as they want. Then eventually after all the former residents have moved on or passed on, the lower floors could be repurposed into hotel rooms. If a developer in such a situation could agree to that, then the city should allow them to build 15-20 floors higher than 27 stories.

That gets back to the height restriction issue in Vancouver. Other cities have allowed tall buildings right up to the edge of a park. It seems that no one from Vancouver was able to ever stop Sydney. Rather, the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) never made it there to thwart big, bustling Sydney.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg/960px-Sydney_CBD_on_a_sunny_day.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Global_Citizen_Festival_Central_Park_New_York_City Anything like the VMV would have thwartted NYC so badly. 

Of course it would have been great if there was future space south of the Hotel+Vancouver (with only 507 rooms) to build a 55-65 story tower. A VPL and Hotel+Vancouver tower could have been started there in the mid 1950s, but Vancouver was still too much of a provincial backwater then. The Fairmont_Royal_York is nice and wide with 1,363 rooms. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_St._Francis "...the St. Francis one of the largest hotels in the city, with more than 1,254 rooms and suites." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_San_Francisco_Union_Square "Renovated in 2017, it is the largest hotel on the West Coast,^[8] with 1,921 rooms."

Fortunately, Sydney, Melbourne, SF and Toronto were never under anything like a Vancouverization agenda. Somehow that backwards mentality was never adopted in most real cities.

https://bcbusiness.ca/industries/real-estate/land-values-how-the-hotel-shortage-in-vancouver-is-coinciding-with-a-boom-in-tourism The BC Mind Virus is so firmly entrenched that its still very difficult to properly upgrade things.

 https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC+hotel+shortage

Can $68BN Save New York’s Subway?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGy65I_9pDw 

NYC