HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Texas & Southcentral > San Antonio


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #261  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 3:09 AM
sirkingwilliam's Avatar
sirkingwilliam sirkingwilliam is offline
Loving SA 365 days a year
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,891
Quote:
Originally Posted by ILUVSAT View Post
I do not believe anyone said the tower will be a TOTAL of 18 stories. However, 18 stories of office space is possible (based on the overall RSF). There is a difference!

No office tower will have 10,000 SF floor plates. And, the 400,000 SF of rentable space should be a HUGE clue as to how many office levels this tower will have. I believe this tower will have between 16 and 20 levels of office space.

As already mentioned, should they place a parking podium underneath, this tower could reach 27-31 stories (assuming 10 levels of parking + a ground level consisting of a lobby and possible retail). With a tall decorative crown, I would also concur that this building could still be in the 500-550' range.

Weston is not stupid. A huge portion of this tower is speculative office space. He's not going to gamble too much on an unproven office environment in downtown SA. It has been ~30 years since the last office tower was constructed. The office market could explode, however, we do not know as of yet. But, 400,000 SF is not a lot of space. Austin's ~400' "Google" tower is currently under construction and it will have about 500,000 SF of office space. Frost Tower is ~525,000 SF of office space and 515' tall (with a parking podium and decorative crown).

SKW, since you are in the "know," how tall will this tower be? For several months now, you have been bashing the rational folks simply expressing their seemingly educated opinions - definitively declaring that we are all wrong. I think I am one of several who would like to see you step up to the plate with a real specific "guess" of what this tower will be instead of just cutting us off, saying, conclusively: "it will NOT be this" or "it will NOT be that."

How about you provide us with your specific guess as to the total number of floors (divided into ground level, parking, and office space) and a guess as to the total height based on the aforementioned levels plus decorative crown? How big will the office floor plates be? Since you are in the "know," you should have first-hand knowledge of the currently-in-design plans for this tower.

Thanks and I look forward to your guesses with extreme enthusiasm.
I can see the bait and I won't take it and engage in a petty argument with you.

You joined in 2013, so you may not know I posted numerous times about something big planned for the west side of downtown.

I'm not an "insider" as you seemed to label me. I just know a lot of people within the real estate industry, as well as a few downtown and city power players. Not to mention architects and engineers who work on a lot of stuff that you guys don't know about and may never know about or see because it never materializes beyond the design stage.

Funny enough, this forum is a big reason behind how I made the initial connections that I have been speaking about. I won't get into it, but will simply say it started in late 2007 when a certain Andres visited our board and began posting. Old schoolers will probably remember.

Anyway, long winded explanation aside, I won't make a "guess", because what would that prove or serve to prove? That I can't type numbers?

I don't have any exact figures, Weston Urban has this puppy tightly locked up and getting hard numbers is nearly impossible right now. I just know it will be skyline changing, as has been alluded to publicly, and will be at least twice the height of the current Frost HQ. I know a few other minor details regarding the planned residential components that Weston is trying to get down. But again, they are very tight lipped about that as well.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #262  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 3:12 AM
sirkingwilliam's Avatar
sirkingwilliam sirkingwilliam is offline
Loving SA 365 days a year
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,891
Now let's please get back to the topic at hand which is the Frost headquarters tower.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #263  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 4:53 PM
AwesomeSAView AwesomeSAView is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 651
Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
Now let's please get back to the topic at hand which is the Frost headquarters tower.

VERY WELL PUT, SIRKINGWILLIAM!!!
We don't need any "naysayers" and "negativity" on this thread.
Some people just need to "be happy". Must be a big challenge for them!
Again to Sirkingwilliam!

But, I love the fact that this tower is causing lots of commotion and controversy!

NOW BACK TO THE TOPIC!!!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #264  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 10:35 PM
Spoiler's Avatar
Spoiler Spoiler is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 917
Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
I'm not an "insider" as you seemed to label me. I just know a lot of people within the real estate industry, as well as a few downtown and city power players. Not to mention architects and engineers who work on a lot of stuff that you guys don't know about and may never know about or see because it never materializes beyond the design stage.
You just described what it means to be an insider.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #265  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2015, 12:33 AM
sirkingwilliam's Avatar
sirkingwilliam sirkingwilliam is offline
Loving SA 365 days a year
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,891
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoiler View Post
You just described what it means to be an insider.
No, not even remotely. I'm not personally involved in any downtown or urban core project. I'm not on the inside of any development.

Knowing people, who themselves are insiders because they're involved in the actual projects, doesn't make me an insider. It simply makes me someone with "connections".

Better put, a news person or a reporter isn't an "insider" because they have sources.

That's what I have. Sources.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #266  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2015, 2:26 AM
sirkingwilliam's Avatar
sirkingwilliam sirkingwilliam is offline
Loving SA 365 days a year
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,891
Back to the topic at hand please.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #267  
Old Posted Nov 30, 2015, 10:36 PM
GoldenBoot's Avatar
GoldenBoot GoldenBoot is offline
Member since 2001
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Terra Firma
Posts: 3,260
I thought Frost was the topic...

Okay, all kidding aside - is the 400M SF a false number then? Is it actually higher?
__________________
AUSTIN (City): 974,447 +1.30% - '20-'22 | AUSTIN MSA (5 counties): 2,473,275 +8.32% - '20-'23
SAN ANTONIO (City): 1,472,909 +2.69% - '20-'22 | SAN ANTONIO MSA (8 counties): 2,703,999 +5.70% - '20-'23
AUS-SAT REGION (MSAs/13 counties): 5,177,274 +6.94% - '20-'23 | *SRC: US Census*
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #268  
Old Posted Dec 1, 2015, 12:22 AM
Spoiler's Avatar
Spoiler Spoiler is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 917
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenBoot View Post
I thought Frost was the topic...

Okay, all kidding aside - is the 400M SF a false number then? Is it actually higher?
Uh how many SF is 400M again?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #269  
Old Posted Dec 1, 2015, 6:34 PM
GoldenBoot's Avatar
GoldenBoot GoldenBoot is offline
Member since 2001
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Terra Firma
Posts: 3,260
Sorry for the confusion...used to be in real estate finance. In the banking industry, we use the Roman Numeral "M" to denote 1,000s. So, 400M is shorthand for 400,000 and 400MM would be shorthand for 400,000,000.
__________________
AUSTIN (City): 974,447 +1.30% - '20-'22 | AUSTIN MSA (5 counties): 2,473,275 +8.32% - '20-'23
SAN ANTONIO (City): 1,472,909 +2.69% - '20-'22 | SAN ANTONIO MSA (8 counties): 2,703,999 +5.70% - '20-'23
AUS-SAT REGION (MSAs/13 counties): 5,177,274 +6.94% - '20-'23 | *SRC: US Census*
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #270  
Old Posted Dec 1, 2015, 8:44 PM
jaga185's Avatar
jaga185 jaga185 is offline
James
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Antonio, Tx
Posts: 2,469
Well they keep saying 400M sqft office space, didn't I read somewhere about a residential component? is that still a thing or no?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #271  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2015, 4:50 AM
KevinFromTexas's Avatar
KevinFromTexas KevinFromTexas is offline
Meh
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Austin <------------> Birmingham?
Posts: 57,326
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenBoot View Post
The 18 stories was not taken "out of thin air." 18-levels of rentable office space sounds about right for a tower of this size (400,000 SF of rentable office space). That would be ~22,200 SF floor plates...again, about average for an office tower. Add 10 levels of podium parking and you get a 28-story building. A 28-story tower with podium parking can still reach 400' tall without a decorative crown. With a decorative crown, this tower can still reach the 518' outlined in Weston's proposal to the city.
This is pretty much what I've been thinking. San Antonio is already a city of interesting and vertically emphasized roof designs anyway. With the information we know already, ti's not hard to imagine San Antonio will be getting a tower that is at least 500 feet, if they add a crown of some sort. I would be very surprised if they didn't.
__________________
Conform or be cast out.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #272  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2015, 3:21 PM
Fireoutofclay's Avatar
Fireoutofclay Fireoutofclay is offline
Weapon of Mass Creation
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 294
Quote:
Originally Posted by STLtoSA View Post
The initial proposal had diagrams displaying what the heights might be. See below:



It might benefit the discussion to re-post this diagram every once in a while.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #273  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2015, 6:27 PM
GoldenBoot's Avatar
GoldenBoot GoldenBoot is offline
Member since 2001
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Terra Firma
Posts: 3,260
Quote:
Originally Posted by jaga185 View Post
Well they keep saying 400M sqft office space, didn't I read somewhere about a residential component? is that still a thing or no?
No. However, Weston does have residential plans in a completely separate project.
__________________
AUSTIN (City): 974,447 +1.30% - '20-'22 | AUSTIN MSA (5 counties): 2,473,275 +8.32% - '20-'23
SAN ANTONIO (City): 1,472,909 +2.69% - '20-'22 | SAN ANTONIO MSA (8 counties): 2,703,999 +5.70% - '20-'23
AUS-SAT REGION (MSAs/13 counties): 5,177,274 +6.94% - '20-'23 | *SRC: US Census*
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #274  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2015, 6:44 PM
GoldenBoot's Avatar
GoldenBoot GoldenBoot is offline
Member since 2001
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Terra Firma
Posts: 3,260
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fireoutofclay View Post
It might benefit the discussion to re-post this diagram every once in a while.
NOTE: the 518' model is a 29-story tower with some sort of decorative crown. Included within are 22 levels of high-rise office space, 6 levels of podium parking, and 1 ground floor retail/tenant level.

Assuming 400M SF of rentable space and 23 levels in which space can be rented - that would yield almost 17,400 SF of rentable space per floor - excluding parking floors, of course. This is less less than the average for a modern office skyscraper. BUT, still possible that it can work.

As exciting as the prospect might be, I wonder if the development group has decided to add more speculative office space to this project - raising the total rentable square footage - and thus, better supporting the assertion of a small group of forumers who have vehemently and vigorously defended their belief that this tower will rise above 40 stories (and in some cases more than 600' tall - twice the height of Frost's current HQ). It's definately possible and I'm very curious.

Technically, it could still be roughly a 30-story tower with a decorative crown and enormous spire which reaches a height of 600'-700'!?! That would be cool and would definitely qualify as an iconic tower which changes the SA skyline forever. Heck, Austin's Fairmont Hotel is 456' to the roof and 595' to the tip of its spire. So, (almost) anything is possible.
__________________
AUSTIN (City): 974,447 +1.30% - '20-'22 | AUSTIN MSA (5 counties): 2,473,275 +8.32% - '20-'23
SAN ANTONIO (City): 1,472,909 +2.69% - '20-'22 | SAN ANTONIO MSA (8 counties): 2,703,999 +5.70% - '20-'23
AUS-SAT REGION (MSAs/13 counties): 5,177,274 +6.94% - '20-'23 | *SRC: US Census*

Last edited by GoldenBoot; Dec 2, 2015 at 7:12 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #275  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2015, 4:38 PM
scraperwill scraperwill is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 32
It will not even be 400'
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #276  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2015, 7:03 PM
Rynetwo Rynetwo is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 357
Do you know something that none of us do?

Last edited by sirkingwilliam; Dec 11, 2015 at 7:24 PM. Reason: Deleted the trolling comment you replied to.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #277  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2015, 10:28 PM
The ATX's Avatar
The ATX The ATX is online now
Moderator
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Where the lights are much brighter
Posts: 12,045
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rynetwo View Post
Do you know something that none of us do?
His posts keep getting deleted. But he has posted early height info in the same manner for a couple of Austin projects and has ended up being pretty close to what the actual height turned out to be.
__________________
Follow The ATX on X:
https://twitter.com/TheATX1

Things will be great when you're downtown.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #278  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2015, 11:54 PM
Paul in S.A TX's Avatar
Paul in S.A TX Paul in S.A TX is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Far West Bexar County
Posts: 3,630
Over my dead body will it be less than 400 feet tall!
__________________
2020 S. A. Pop 1.59 million/ Metro 2.64 million/ASA corridor 5 million Census undercount city proper. San Antonio economy and largest economic sectors. Annual contribution towards GDP. U.S. DOD$48.5billion/Manufacturing $40.5 billion/Healthcare-Biosciences $40 billion/Finance-Insurance $20 billion/Tourism $15 billion/ Technology $10 billion. S.A./ Austin: Tech $25 billion/Manufacturing $11 billion/ Tourism $9 billion.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #279  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2015, 3:27 AM
KevinFromTexas's Avatar
KevinFromTexas KevinFromTexas is offline
Meh
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Austin <------------> Birmingham?
Posts: 57,326
Exclamation

Quote:
Originally Posted by scraperwill View Post
It will not even be 400'
I've undeleted scraperwill's post. He has correctly reported heights for proposed buildings in Austin in the past, so I don't think he was trolling with this post.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #280  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2015, 4:00 AM
sirkingwilliam's Avatar
sirkingwilliam sirkingwilliam is offline
Loving SA 365 days a year
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,891
Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas View Post
I've undeleted scraperwill's post. He has correctly reported heights for proposed buildings in Austin in the past, so I don't think he was trolling with this post.
This is San Antonio, and unless he can provide reasoning for said comment, it smells of trolling. Especially with how he worded the first comment I deleted.

I know for a fact he's incorrect. So, as I've said, it smells of trolling to me. May be playful, but trolling nonetheless.
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Texas & Southcentral > San Antonio
Forum Jump



Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 8:33 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.