Midland, Texas - Cityscape

Cityscape

Nicknamed "The Tall City", Midland has long been known for its downtown skyline. Most of downtown Midland’s major office buildings were built during a time of major Permian Basin oil and gas discoveries. The surge in energy prices in the mid-1980s set about a building boom for Downtown Midland. For many years, the 22-story Wilco Building in downtown Midland was the tallest building between Fort Worth and Phoenix. Today, Midland's tallest building is the 24-story Bank of America Building which stands at a height of 332 feet (101 m). Four buildings over 500 feet (150 m) tall were planned in the 1980s, including one designed by world famous architect I.M. Pei. The great Oil Bust of the mid-1980s, however, killed any plans for future skyscrapers. As of today, five of the forty downtown skyscrapers in Midland are completely vacant.

Because of the revival of the energy-driven economy, a move is currently underway to bring mixed-use development to the downtown area. This has resulted in the on-going demolition of several older buildings and the plans for replacement of several more. At the beginning of 2008, the Permian Building and Gihl's Tower were demolished. Today, there are parking lots where the two buildings once stood. On November 8, 2008 the 14-story Midland Savings Building, built in 1959, was imploded. The building once housed Texaco's Midland office, which later moved to the Heritage Building. Crews have since begun the demolition of the Metro and First National Bank buildings, located on the same block. The Summit Building, 300 N. Marienfeld, in mid-2008 became the first building in the Midland area to be depicted on Google Earth in a 3D mode. The GIS Division of the City of Midland has a long-range plan to render more of the downtown area in the new rendering.