San Francisco officials are cementing deals to build a pair of skyscrapers that would challenge New York's 1,250-foot Empire State Building as the US' second tallest, Bloomberg reports. The city has selected a plan for a slender, 1,200-plus-foot obelisk to be built in the Market financial district, with a like-size complex of connected towers planned across the street.
Though Mayor Gavin Newsom holds that it is "imperative" for Frisco to remain competitive in the worldwide building-height arms race, fans of the city's mellow character worry about "Manhattanization" and the dangers posed by the area's frequent earthquakes. Although ambitious, the buildings would not challenge Chicago's Sears tower as the US' tallest at 1,451 feet. (More skyscraper stories.)