Honolulu ranks 4th among U.S. cities with tallest skyscrapers

Photo: Treena shapiro

As new high-rise condominums are proposed, it's natural to wonder how they might change Honolulu's skyline.

Thanks to Kanu Hawaii, I started the day exploring how the skyline has already changed over the past few years. In a Facebook post, Kanu linked to rankings of cities with the most buildings taller than 100 meters. Honolulu ranks 4th among U.S. cities, with 104 buildings with combined height of 11,855 meters. New York, Chicago and Miami come in first, second and third respectively.

Internationally, Honolulu comes in at 29. Hong Kong tops the list, with 2,354 buildings taller than 100 meters, nearly three times as many as in second-place New York.

Honolulu doesn't have much in the way of "skyscrapers" that top out over 150 meters, let alone 300 meters. What it does have is a lot of tall buildings—and apparently they're getting taller.

Although First Hawaiian Center has remained the city's tallest building since 1996, the rest of the top three buildings were built in the last five years: Kakaako condominiums Pacifica Honolulu (2011) and the Moana Pacific towers (2008). Over the past decade, nine of Honolulu's 20 tallest buildings have been erected. Surprisingly, most of the new high-rises aren't Waikiki hotels or downtown office buildings, but rather luxury condos in Kakaako.

Nevertheless, it appears that Honolulu's skyline will continue reaching higher. Developers have proposed building another six high-rises in Kakaako alone.