The Plaza at Waterfront Square - NO CC

It’s been a while since my last residential skyscrapers, but I still enjoy making this kind of huge urban construction, and it seems like there’s enough of you who enjoy them as well that it’s definitely still worthwhile! I generally try to give more personality to my creations, either from a historic/landmark quality or by embracing more cutting-edge modern aesthetics, and I realized that this was leaving my skyline rather lacking in the “generic 1970s-1990s poured concrete and steel” type of skyscraper that’s present in almost all real-world skylines.

This tower doesn’t have much to really distinguish it, it wouldn’t be on a list of SimCity landmarks that visitors would want to visit, but in a dense urban environment it would still provide additional housing opportunities and there will always be those who just want to live in a particular neighborhood, even if their building isn’t anything to write home about… the view FROM the building can still be spectacular, and there’s always going to be someone happy to pay for another penthouse apartment as part of a money laundering or tax evasion scheme when they have more money than they know what to do with! There are 11 units in this block, ranging from $1220 a week for the smallest up to $11,004 a week for the four-story penthouse, and each and every one of them offers sweeping panoramas of the surrounding cityscape.

As with all my lots no CC is used or included, and I have tested a clone for routing and gameplay errors. To my knowledge they’ve all been corrected in the lot as uploaded, but let me know if you encounter any remaining problems in your gameplay and I’ll try to get them addressed if possible. While this is certainly a large lot, with just under $1M total value, there’s not much that should always be happening outside the residences to slow down gameplay (the arcade lights are all that springs to mind), so while it won’t be the fastest lot, if you have all the EPs and SPs (or UC) you shouldn’t have too much trouble with it!

And while a deliberately more boring lot might not be the most story-inspiring location out there, I still always try to come up with a vignette to set the scene, so read on for that if you like!



SimCity Architectural Digest, Volume 47, May/June Issue

One of the less visible architectural trends sweeping through the highest floors of SimCity in recent years has been massive renovations of penthouse apartments, as the city’s wealthiest residents have been buying up not only existing luxury suites, but often surrounding units as well, in some cases even buying out entire floors and expanding their own holdings into those levels as well.

The Plaza at Waterfront Square is one of the latest buildings receiving this treatment. Built in the early 1970s during the first boom in Waterfront construction, this building was never all that well received by either the architectural community or the rental market, and many of its units eventually rented well below the initial projections of the building’s financiers. The building’s ownership shifted between a number of equity firms from the 1980s onward, but none ever took a significant interest in improving or updating the building, usually just relying on the building’s valuation for tax purposes of one sort or another.



Seven years ago the building was acquired by one of Landgraab Industries’ many real estate holding companies, and they quickly began to buy out tenants, renovating the units to bring them up to modern market standards in the hopes of capitalizing on the revitalizing Waterfront neighborhood real estate market. Units had bathrooms significantly updated and the kitchens were completely replaced with modern appliances and surfaces. Windows were replaced with glass up to modern safety code standards and access to the tiny balcony spaces was removed due to a number of safety incidents that it was deemed impractical to properly address.

The building still failed to meet the projections made in the initial Landgraab Industries prospectus, but industry experts had been vocally skeptical of these projections from the outset, and other industry estimates proved to be much more accurate. Many young urban professionals jumped at the opportunity to lease units in a building located near a number of corporate offices, but even units on the higher floors would only occasionally rise to the projected rental prices during market upswings. Building amenities were slightly improved, with arcades and game rooms made available to all tenants, and community gathering spaces off the lobby and on the building’s roof established, allowing tenants the opportunity to occasionally make use of them for parties and special events.



Landgraab Industries’ acquisition of the property took place at the same time as an anonymous contractual agreement, leasing the original two-story penthouse as well as the two floors immediately below it to an unknown party. During the building’s renovation, these units were completely gutted and redesigned into a single massive penthouse apartment, one of the largest units in that part of the city. Despite significant efforts by both local tenants’ organizations and other major investors in the SimCity real estate market, no clear information on the other party was ever brought to light, allowing local tabloids to run rampant, with theories from “a tax shelter” all the way to headlines screaming that it was a “secret base from which aliens would invade SimCity and begin replacing city officials with llamas” adorning the front pages on newsstands across the city.

Shortly before the penthouse renovations were finalized, SimCity Architectural Digest was approached through a third party with an offer to write a piece on the newly redesigned unit. After verifying the authenticity of the intermediary’s offer, this reporter met with representatives of Landgraab Industries and was led on a tour of the penthouse suite in its nearly-completed state.



The most striking feature of the penthouse suite now has to be the many rooms clearly designed to show off a truly remarkable modern art collection. Pop art pieces with astonishingly high price tags adorn the two-story great room making up the first impression any visitor will have, with museum-quality pieces backlit by windows looking out on the city and central park in the distance, and even in rooms ostensibly intended for some other specific purpose, such as the piano room, the wall is dominated by massive canvases painted by some of the modern art world’s greatest names.

The art pieces are primarily found in the communal spaces of the penthouse, with the bedrooms and office spaces being slightly more subdued in their decoration, though still opulent in their furnishings. It seems that the designers’ intention with these private spaces was to draw attention to the sweeping views afforded by such a high building, instead of focusing on the furnishings or decorations within the suite. In any case, the overall effect of this penthouse is one of moneyed excess, which seems to be the response intended by the designer.

This reporter must admit to being impressed by many aspects of the penthouse design, however the many lingering questions surrounding the ownership of this property and the concerns over financial malfeasance on the part of any number of parties make it difficult to write too positive a review. As the Waterfront district continues its revitalization, one can’t help but wonder whether the true reasons behind the acquisition of this penthouse have more to do with private financial interests than they do with any appreciation for the art or the architecture of SimCity.