Local architects to design new federal courthouse
 

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So I guess that means that the (new) SAPD HQ's will have to be built within the next couple of years in order for the old one to be demo'd. We should be hearing something soon then.

Sweet, Lake/Flato does some killer stuff. This is gonna look good.

So is $125 million a "highrise" price figure?

It depends more on the size of the lot, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's at least 100 feet tall. I would imagine courthouses are pretty expensive since they have upgraded security systems and layouts.

But for comparison sake, the new courthouse in Austin which broke ground last month, will cost at least $102 million and have 8 floors. The published height before said it would be 135 feet tall. It'll have 252,420 square feet and occupy a full block.

You can read about it here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=173556

Just like Kevin said, depends on many things. But here are some more comparisons just for the sake of comparison. Costs change, but;

St. Louis got a $184 million, 29 story building in 2000. But it is also the largest in the US with close to 1Mil sq. ft.

At about half that size is Jacksonville, with a 14 story, $84 million building, built in 2002.

Our current total size of the entire complex is 292,250 sq. ft and over 600 parking spaces. Something maybe slightly bigger than Austins is probably a good comparison. I believe the number is $142 million for construction.
As is, the buildings would fit side by side on the SAPD lot with no room for parking. The Federal Building, minus the courthouse, is currently 7 stories. Many are saying that the current buildings are way too small. So I would think that we are probably looking at 10 stories, at least, to accomodate for some growth, maybe higher if parking is an issue on that lot.

The SA Federal Courthouse will cost about $142 million and break ground in 2012. It will be located at 214 West Nueva Street, the site of the current Police HQ. A new public safety headquarters to be built across from this site is currently accepting bids through December.

http://gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/FY_2010_...ed_3172009.pdf

Federal Courthouse project update! Will there be a new landmark to grace the skyline?
 

Looks like this project will move at a snail's pace. Hopefully it will be a timeless type landmark structre like the Tower Life.


http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...104112109.html


http://i56.tinypic.com/wgvq4y.jpg



The St louis Federal courthouse. I took a few pictures of this buidling when I was in St.Louis back in 2001, it's huge. San Antonio should build something like this, of course San Antonio style.

http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/m...es/stlouis.jpg



I hope they redesign the tower and build something like this. (:

Has anyone read anything about what the square footage would be? That would be helpful in determining how tall it'll be. And yeah, that one in St. Louis is sweet. I believe it's the tallest federal courthouse in the US. It's over 500 feet tall.

Paul, I merged these two threads. I had forgotten about the one I posted last year, too. By the way, those look to be the same article.

Holy crap, a new courthouse of that stature would be orgasmic, just saying.

It should definitely incorporate the styles of the city, maybe an Art Deco or Gothic style. I hope it's not a bland cookie cutter, beige building.

This is the time for the city to spark some what of a new era for the city. If our city government want progression and change for downtown, they should start it themselves with a well designed, twenty first century, federal courthouse that will be timeless, something we can be proud of.

Wait, is just the Courthouse moving or is the Federal Building being moved as well?

edit: If the adjacent parking lot is also city property being given to the Feds, that makes for a pretty big lot.

Ok... cool thanks!

I think I read somewhere that it is supposed to be about 375,000 sq ft
That was a while back, so that number might have changed by now.

334,335 sf, but 375,000 sf was also mentioned a couple of years ago.

The Federal Complex includes the Federal Building. I believe most of those offices will move in the new space as well, although I think I read somewhere that some of the offices were actually moving to the old Courthouse/Post Office.

The current Federal space is 7.66 acres, SAPD - 6.99 acres.

The current property includes 638 spaces, plus all of the street parking. Assuming the new location will include increased parking as well, I tried to envision what the footprint of that would be....
The current configuration over at the county-side (before the new expansion, which will take it to 1,181 spaces,) across the creek from SAPD has a total of 794 spaces, and that takes up a pretty good chunk of land, footprint-wise.
Just for comparison, the Justice Center (including new tower and basement space) totals 493,000 sq. ft. Look at the footprint of that; and one building is 6 floors and the other 11.

I just looked up the specs for the one in St. Louis. It's 557 feet tall with 28 floors. The square footage is 1,037,375 square feet.

By the way, it's the 2nd tallest judicial/court building in the world. The tallest is the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago. That building is 648 feet tall with 32 floors, and 1.464 million square feet.

The one that's under construction in Austin is 211,688 square feet. It's only 135 feet tall with 7 floors though, and occupies an entire 275x275 square foot block.

So this could possibly be 225ft... assuming the footprint is the same, which I know it won't be. This is just my basic calculation here... so you know what I take that back. Does anyone know about what the size of the block is?

I measured with GoogleEarth, and the new courthouse block is 525 feet on the north side going east to west.

The south side of the block is 507 feet.

The west side is 415 feet.

The east is 529 feet.

I doubt that it will occupy that whole block though. Besides the current police headquarters, there's another small building on the south side of the block facing Graham Avenue. There's also a communications tower next to that building.

The St. Louis courthouse block is 327x425.

Let's say the building goes up exactly on the footprint of the SAPD HQ, and doesn't spill over much into the surrounding parking lot. The footprint of the existing building is around 45,000 sq. ft. Let's say the courthouse ends up being 350,000 sq. ft. That would come to about 8 floors of equal footage. Let's say maybe 20' floor heights...that comes to 160' tall.