If you could provide some content from the link and not just the link, that'd be better. :tup:

This is a good video here for showing the relative heights of the Marriott, Hyatt and Tower Life Building.

The published height of the flagpole of the Tower Life Building is 100 feet. Of course that number was probably rounded up. The building itself is 404 feet tall. So that puts the flagpole around 504 feet. In this video the drone hovers near the top of the flagpole, and you can clearly see it is higher than the top of the Weston Center. He also pans over to the Marriott and Hyatt, and the roof of the Hyatt is cearly higher than that of the Marriott. The spires rise higher than the roof of the Hyatt, but not higher than the elevation of the flagpole on the Tower Life Building. It also shows how much higher the base of the observation deck is on the Tower of the Americas than the Marriott and Hyatt.

This second video shows pretty well the elevations of the Marriott and Hyatt compared to the Tower of the America's observation deck.

• Video Link• Video Link

The discussion was about whether or not the Weston Center sat at I higher elevation than the Marriott River Center and the Grand Hyatt...and the answer is no. the Google estimates are pretty close especially when comparing different locations throughout downtown.

As I showed in my post I looked at Google elevations as well as COSA elevation data. St Marys St is a low point that is why it seems as if the Weston Center sits up on a perch. However by the time you get to the Street level at Travis Park the elevation is the same as the entrance to the Weston Center (652'). Below is an elevation profile of Pecan from Soledad to Jefferson; that illustrates this. The abrupt drop in the River (Pecan Obviously does not drop that way).

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...e.jpg~original

I used elevation point data that the city has processed every 3-5 years. Based on this data the Hyatt and the Marriott have entrances that are 4' higher in elevation than the Weston Center.

Below is a profile drawn from the entrance of the Weston Center to the Entrance of the Marriott River Center. The first low point is the River next to the Weston Center, the second is Paseo de Alamo, and the third is the River extension at River Center Mall. The lowest point in the profile (not river level) is 644; a staggering 8 feet beneath the Weston Center Entrance.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...e.jpg~original

Once again:
Marriott River Center - 656
Grand Hyatt - 656
Weston Center -652
New Frost - 650
Tower Life - 641
River View - 648
Frost - 650
Drury - 646
Municipal Plaza - 650
Nix - 644
BofA - 648
USAA - 646
AT&T - 651
Hemisfair Tower - 652

That is fairly flat to me, when comparing perceived heights. Are there areas around downtown that are lower than the intersection of Pecan and Soledad? Sure, but the majority of downtown is between 642' and 652'.

The gray areas are below 642' and the red areas are above 652'
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...n.jpg~original

Really cool map! 10 feet isn't much, but it's still interesting.

Well the new frost HQ has officially been approved. New skyscraper on the way!

http://www.mysanantonio.com/real-est...er-6307001.php

"The city will occupy 12 of the 18 floors" lol so only 18 floors?

Theyre talking about the current frost building that the city will take over. The height of the approved skyscraper is undetermined.

thabks for clearing that up skimmed article at work saw 18 floors freaked out. hopefully this is 30.

I hope its more than 30

I think it will be between 30 and 40 levels. However, based on the current proposed SF - probably closer to 30 than 40 levels. Hoping for more, but it is hard to read office needs in 2019. Especially when vacancies are still a bit high in downtown right now. There is an office tower, in another city close to SA, that is currently U/C which includes more office SF than is currently being proposed for Frost...and it is only 28 stories tall. We will see in time.

I can't wait to see the design of the new Frost HQ.

From the SA Business Journal:

Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith said the company will look to push the envelope and create a new home for Frost that will dramatically alter the downtown landscape.

“We are aligned and committed to building something special,” said Smith about Frost and Weston Urban.

However, Houston is confident the commission and the city’s Office of Historic Preservation will be more open to new ideas.

“All parties want the new tower to be iconic ... ,” Houston said.
“There are a million things we don’t yet know about the tower,” Smith said. “These things will work their way to the surface over the coming months of programming and design.

“There is one thing I feel safe saying that we do know today,” he added. “It will not be beige.”

Read more-
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...gger-more.html

It's surprising to me. I've been reading on Facebook the reactions to this, and most people in San Antonio are cheering it on with excitement of something new adding to San Antonio's skyline. A few have complained about it probably being glass and have said they don't want San Antonio to mimic the other Texas cities, but most of them have been excited and supportive of it. It's funny, because it's the exact opposite in Austin. People here can't complain enough about all the new development.

It probably won't be glass because of the new energy codes they will building under. My understanding is that they will likely be subject to the 2015 energy codes which limit the amount of glass to something like 1/3rd of the exterior surface. I'm sure an architect on this forum could provide more insight to that issue.

With Weston Urban behind it, I wasn't afraid that it'd be beige or too short. Mr. Weston and his group at least seemed "aware" of all that with his vision to me.

I wonder when they will start the design process? If it's going to be an international competition, we should get some cool proposals.

So, I've heard the complaining from Austinites is that the new downtown development is too much, and too quickly, and much of the same downtown development. The new development in Austin is overwhelming to downtown residents, as well as others who work downtown.
As for San Antonio mimicing other Texas cities, I believe this is not happening.
Again, our new development is a "mix" of development from office buildings to residential to musuem upgrades to linear parks! Bring on the "mix" of new development. :tup:

I'm not sure about the whole design contest thing. It is a 450,000 sf building with a limited footprint on an uninteresting lot. What can you really do with it? There's nothing there now but parking lots. If they are willing to spend the money it takes to make a building stand out, then pick a well respected architect and see what they have to offer.

When they do present the design, there will be mixed feelings about it. I like the downtown library and the Frost building in Austin, but I've heard many people criticize both.

I would hope they take the skyline into consideration and avoid the Grand Hyatt result. I dislike that building for many reasons, but mostly for its effect on the skyline by being wall-like and blocking out the Marriotts and Tower.

And yes, avoiding beige would be a good thing:coolugh:

This will be a 450k sq ft building?! I thought it was only supposed to be 250k sq ft...

Sorry, double checked and saw it was 400k sf proposed.

The 250k sf is what Frost will occupy.

I wouldn't say it's overwhelming, and the ones who are complaining the most are suburbanites who swear they never even go downtown. That's a bit ridiculous. Traffic is one issue, but then again it's bad all over the city, and has been for about 2 decades now - well before this boom even started. I've learned that people will complain about anything on the internet.

My point was I've been surprised by the positive comments on this building and really any planned development in San Antonio, particularly with people saying they hope it upgrades the skyline. There was another article talking about Broadway, and people were saying they thought it was a good thing to see new development along the street.