Although it has six fewer cranes than it did six months ago, Seattle continues to lead the country with the number of cranes populating its skyline. In the latest Rider Levett Bucknall Crane semi-annual crane count Seattle recorded 59—15 more than runner-up Los Angeles. Portland ranked third with 30 cranes and San Francisco fourth with 29.
Of Seattle’s cranes, 25 belong to mixed-use projects, 15 to residential, and 10 to commercial. Other projects with include hospitality, transportation, education and industrial. Most of the cranes up are within the Seattle core, especially South Lake Union, however, they can also be seen in Ballard, West Seattle, and Sodo.
Bellevue was not included in the count as it doesn’t fall into city limits, however, it currently has 15. The city limits defined by the RLB Crane Index are west of Lake Washington to Elliott Bay and from Northgate to Boeing Field.
Some downtown projects with cranes include new condominiums such as Spire and The Emerald, in addition to the Rainier Square Tower project (which has three cranes).
Seattle has led the U.S. in the crane count since January 2016, however, Toronto currently leads North America with 104 cranes.