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Old 09-01-2007, 06:16 AM
 
3,247 posts, read 9,012,570 times
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SA look what going on in downtown Austin. Google-The Austonian.

When is SA going to get off the low rise concept downtown?

Last edited by elnina; 04-13-2022 at 12:52 AM..
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Old 09-01-2007, 06:59 AM
Status: "America first!" (set 19 hours ago)
 
Location: Suburban Dallas
52,572 posts, read 47,699,703 times
Reputation: 33649
Default Will There Be Plans?

That's a good question to ponder. I'm not sure what SA's future plans are, but I would doubt they would build anything as tall as the Tower of the Americas. I also doubt Austin will see a 50-story skyscraper, but then, stranger things have happened. Fort Worth actually nixed a plan to build a 60-story building that would have been a nice addition to its skyline. I wonder if there's anyone out there that knows of any new buildings to go up in downtown San Antonio. ARE there plans?

BTW -- It is quite a sight to see how the Tower of the Americas stands out from the rest of the buildings.
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Old 09-01-2007, 08:09 AM
 
4,796 posts, read 15,299,397 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by case44 View Post
That's a good question to ponder. I'm not sure what SA's future plans are, but I would doubt they would build anything as tall as the Tower of the Americas. I also doubt Austin will see a 50-story skyscraper, but then, stranger things have happened. Fort Worth actually nixed a plan to build a 60-story building that would have been a nice addition to its skyline. I wonder if there's anyone out there that knows of any new buildings to go up in downtown San Antonio. ARE there plans?

BTW -- It is quite a sight to see how the Tower of the Americas stands out from the rest of the buildings.
I can't really say this had an effect on Ft Worths decision, but in recent years they demo-ed one of the tallest bank buildings downtown because of damage from serious tornado and hail damage around 1995. It was kept partially open for some years, but was finally condemned. I was living there then, and it was a storm from hell. (I'd remember the name of the building if I wasn't trying so hard!) It was a landmark for 20+years....and I'm guessing it was at least 50 stories. Maybe Ft Worth doesn't want to invite another disaster. That demo was a huge blow to the city.

While San Antonio has tornados and hail, it's not like being in tornado alley like DFW. I don't think the weather would play on a decision to build a skyscraper. But...we still have wide open spaces and cheap real estate. We're not landlocked, so building UP is not cost effective yet.

I'm still confused about this "skyscraper" envy. With the exception of Jules I think this is a "guy" thing!
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Old 09-01-2007, 08:17 AM
Status: "America first!" (set 19 hours ago)
 
Location: Suburban Dallas
52,572 posts, read 47,699,703 times
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The demolition was the old, gray Landmark Tower (once called the CNB building). That was a smaller facility, but it simply outlived its use. Ft. Worth had a tornado whip through downtown in 2000 and it did some damage to several buildings, including the Bank One Tower, which was recently converted to a nice, chic, condo tower. It was a nice job.

And in SA, Tilman Fertitta did a nice job renovating the Tower of the Americas. The observation deck no longer looks like a war zone.
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Old 09-01-2007, 08:34 AM
 
4,796 posts, read 15,299,397 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by case44 View Post
The demolition was the old, gray Landmark Tower (once called the CNB building). That was a smaller facility, but it simply outlived its use. Ft. Worth had a tornado whip through downtown in 2000 and it did some damage to several buildings, including the Bank One Tower, which was recently converted to a nice, chic, condo tower. It was a nice job.

And in SA, Tilman Fertitta did a nice job renovating the Tower of the Americas. The observation deck no longer looks like a war zone.
Bank ONE! That's it! Thanks! They didn't demo that building? The tall green glass building that flairs out at the bottom? I have a friend that's an architect that lives in Ft Worth and he told me they demoed that. Maybe I misunderstood him. I have pictures of it from 2001 still with patchwork windows and plywood dotting the facade...especially on the West and South side. That was from the hail and tornado storm that drove right down I-30.
I remember seeing billboards that were just shredded from the hail....and my daughters school (Nolan) had serious damage on the West side. We were lucky that we got the smaller hail in the mid cities....but our yard was three inches deep in pea sized hail. It looked like it had been snowing. Crazy weather that year!
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Old 09-01-2007, 04:53 PM
Status: "America first!" (set 19 hours ago)
 
Location: Suburban Dallas
52,572 posts, read 47,699,703 times
Reputation: 33649
Quote:
Originally Posted by wCat View Post
Bank ONE! That's it! Thanks! They didn't demo that building? The tall green glass building that flairs out at the bottom? I have a friend that's an architect that lives in Ft Worth and he told me they demoed that. Maybe I misunderstood him. I have pictures of it from 2001 still with patchwork windows and plywood dotting the facade...especially on the West and South side. That was from the hail and tornado storm that drove right down I-30.
I remember seeing billboards that were just shredded from the hail....and my daughters school (Nolan) had serious damage on the West side. We were lucky that we got the smaller hail in the mid cities....but our yard was three inches deep in pea sized hail. It looked like it had been snowing. Crazy weather that year!
The green building didn't have that much damage. It's in great shape today. Sorry I don't know the name of that building.
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Old 09-02-2007, 09:58 AM
 
3,247 posts, read 9,012,570 times
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Austin just broke ground on a downtown 56 story hi rise condo, with more highrises to come. SA has never built anything ever over 45 stories, what gives. I guess we will always look like downtown Amarillo with a Tower
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Old 09-02-2007, 10:30 AM
 
3,247 posts, read 9,012,570 times
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Need I say more San Antonio!!!!

Benchmark Development has supposedly begun sales of the planned 155 condos in what they are now calling "The Austonian" (the website is now up). The current plan is a 700 foot tall, 55 story tower of condo power above what appears to be (and had better be) ground floor retail on the corner of Congress and Second Street (across Congress from the current location of Las Manitas - BTW, word is that Las Mas will be moving into the landmarked structure nearby owned by the current proprietors, with a healthy retro-fit subsidy from the newly created Congress Avenue Retail Retention and Enhancement Fund).

The Austonian is ... tall and has a funny shape. The materials look nicer than they were in the prior iteration, but judging materials by these renderings is a dicey proposition. To the developer: glass is good. Preferably with some UV filtering, cuz those top floors are going to be right up against the sun. The planned "illuminated architectural feature" for the top sounds scary, but it might make it easier for the aliens to find us from space, so that's nice. The developers appear to have squeezed an additional seven stories into the plan (previous indications were that the tower would be 48 stories), while maintaining a height of 700 feet,
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Old 09-02-2007, 12:29 PM
 
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Its frustrating that we don't have any cool skyskrapers downtown. The only office buildings of significant heights are the Weston Tower and the Bank of America Tower, which aren't that tall, and look pretty measly by themselves. I really wish AT&T would build a big new tower, after all, we have the biggest telecommunications company in the U.S. right here in SA, and nothing to show for it. And why Frost bank couldn't have built a tower here, rather than Austin is beyond me.
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Old 09-02-2007, 02:03 PM
 
592 posts, read 2,017,271 times
Reputation: 143
because sa is lame when
it comes to building highrises and always a penny short and a day late
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