Nine of the 20 tallest buildings under construction in the world are located in China, which is now leading the way in the development of supertall buildings, according to the latest research study by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Bellevue-based MulvannyG2 Architecture designed the Wuxi Chong’an development, which aims to be one of the tallest buildings in Wuxi, China when complete in 2013. It is 755 feet high and has two hotel and residential towers above a retail podium.Rendering Courtesy of MulvannyG2 Architecture

There are 239 buildings taller than 200 meters in advanced stages of development in China, far more than any other country. In 2011 alone China completed 23 buildings taller than 200 meters, which was also the top in the world, CTBUH’s research found.

At the end of 2011, there were only 61 buildings taller than 300 meters in the world; by 2017 China alone will have more than 60.

China’s ascendancy represents a fundamental shift in the construction of supertall buildings. In 1970, 92 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings were located in North America. By the end of 2012 only 29 of the top 100 will be in North America.

“China is dealing with the issues and challenges of developing urban environments on a massive scale,” said Timothy Johnson, chairman of the CTBUH and a partner in NBBJ, in a press release.

The surge in tall building developments in China has drawn criticism recently, with some charging that the buildings are too big and too expensive. A recent newspaper editorial referred to skyscrapers as “white elephants.”

The volume and height of tall building development in China is unprecedented. In 1990 there were five buildings taller than 200 meters in China; by the end of 2012 there will be 249.

The list of towers under development includes the 660-meter Ping An Finance Center, which will be the second tallest building in the world when it is completed, most likely in 2015, and the 632-meter Shanghai Tower.

Redmond-based Eitech America will introduce into the U.S.  market by September a construction set for building a three-foot replica of Seattle’s famous Space Needle.

Image courtesy of Eitech

Bobby King, Eitech America’s president, said in a press release that the company wished to celebrate the landmark’s 50th anniversary with its Deluxe Space Needle Construction Set.

“After designing and engineering replicas of the famous Eiffel Tower and London Tower Bridge, we wanted to create one of our favorite U.S. landmarks. We decided on the Space Needle because of its innovative design and engineering. Plus, Seattle is home for us,” he said.

The company said the set is licensed by the Space Needle. It will have more than 740 interconnecting steel pieces, and tools and instructions.

Eitech will also be offering a smaller version of the Space Needle Construction Set for less ambitious builders or beginners.

Eitech America is a division of Eitech, a European steel construction and building set manufacturer that creates  toys in Germany.

Ground Zero – Melrose and Pine

Madison Development Group plans to redevelop the “Bauhaus Books and Coffee” block on Capitol Hill. Photos by Patrick Doherty

To learn more about the planned redevelopment, go to http://www.djc.com/news/re/12039698.html

Counterbalance is an urban plaza in Seattle’s Queen Anne/Uptown neighborhood. Photo by Murase Associates

Photo by Murase Associates

An addition to Counterbalance Park at Queen Anne Avenue and Roy Street in Seattle is causing a debate about whether the public work of an architect should be changed without appropriate oversight. In this case, the work is by well-known Pacific Northwest landscape architect Robert Murase, who died in 2005. Here and here are some articles about the controversy.

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce reporter Marc Stiles recently quoted a source as saying that J.C. Penney has pulled the plug on plans for a store in the Kress Building at Third Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle. Neither J.C. Penney nor the new owner of the Kress would comment on whether the deal is off, Stiles reported. But a local retail specialist said he was surprised about Penney’s lease at Third and Pike, because it struck him as “outrageous” given the scruffy character of the corner. Third and Pike is within a six-block area that, according to an analysis by The Seattle Times, had nearly 1,000 crime incidents over the last year. They included 98 reports of shoplifting, 86 narcotics violations, 83 assaults and 49 robberies. As Stiles noted “Not exactly roll-out-the-welcome-mat numbers for retailers and their customers.”

Do you think retailers are reluctant to locate in that area, or should be? What can be done to make it better?

The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Nov. 3 on a proposal to remove a fence that blocks public access to a block-long swatch of Lake Washington shoreline, one block north of Madison Beach park. The meeting will be in the Kenneth R. Bonds Park Board Room, 100 Dexter Ave. N., Seattle, according to a post on the CHS Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. SeattleScape’s Patrick  Doherty has championed the issue here.

This block-long stretch on Lake Washington has been behind a fence for decades.

The New York Times has an interesting article on real estate development in New York’s Bowery. It looks at preservationists efforts to save historic buildings on the “original boulevard of broken dreams.” The story notes that generic glass-and-steel towers, trendy hotels, art galleries and chains like Whole Foods have been chipping away at the street’s character, threatening to make some blocks resemble the sleeker stretches of Avenue of the Americas or Third Avenue in Midtown.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

WSJ Magazine, a publication of the Wall Street Journal, has an interesting article about Amanda Burden, daughter of well-known socialite Babe Paley and director of city planning for New York. The magazine says she is spearheading Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s effort to rezone nearly a quarter of New York City and reclaim the city’s waterfront. Her populist achievements include zoning for new affordable housing in East Harlem, Brookyln and the South Bronx, as well as the massively popular High Line, an abandoned railroad track that has been transformed into a popular tourist destination in the meatpacking neighborhood.

New York City waterfront. Courtesy of photobucket.com