Real Estate
Office Towers Reshaped US Skylines. Now Construction Cranes Are Vanishing.
- Few new buildings are going up, diminishing economic vitality
- Slowdown is particularly pronounced in Chicago, Manhattan
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When Rahm Emanuel ran Chicago and wanted to boast about the health of the city, the then-mayor pointed to the number of construction cranes across the skyline — 60 at the end of 2017.
Almost five years after he left office, that number has dwindled to the single digits. There was just one groundbreaking on an office building last year, and zero are expected in 2024.