HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

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


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #1  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 11:32 AM
ahealy's Avatar
ahealy ahealy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: San Antonio / Austin
Posts: 2,552
Possible locations for San Antonio's tallest

Which firm? What style? Colors?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #2  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 12:31 PM
micahinsa micahinsa is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 202
Huh?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 1:40 PM
ahealy's Avatar
ahealy ahealy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: San Antonio / Austin
Posts: 2,552
Quote:
Originally Posted by micahinsa View Post
Huh?
If and when SA gets a new tallest tower.

Where should it go? Which architecture firm would be the best pick? What colors would it have?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 1:44 PM
JACKinBeantown's Avatar
JACKinBeantown JACKinBeantown is offline
JACKinBeantown
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Location: Location:
Posts: 8,824
It should be pink, purple, green and gold. It should be built at 8934 Broadway, on the current location of PoolZoom.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #5  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 1:50 PM
JACKinBeantown's Avatar
JACKinBeantown JACKinBeantown is offline
JACKinBeantown
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Location: Location:
Posts: 8,824
Seriously though, I think whenever it happens it will probably be somewhere in the band between BofA and Frost Tower. That's far from the Alamo and Tower of the Americas, so no problems there (like Seattle with the Space Needle). And those areas are IMO the most likely to build taller. There are plenty of empty lots and the tallest buildings already exist in that band, so people would be less likely to have issues with it. Whatever it looks like, if it doesn't have ground level retail I won't like it (or at least it will lose major points for such an oversight).
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 1:52 PM
micahinsa micahinsa is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 202
Zachry should get the contract and Overland should design it.

Because San Antonio is unique and doesn’t copy other cities!!!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 1:54 PM
JACKinBeantown's Avatar
JACKinBeantown JACKinBeantown is offline
JACKinBeantown
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Location: Location:
Posts: 8,824
^^ If there's any chance of me following this thread, I'd like people to post real answers with real reasons. Thanks in advance.

BTW, my first reply was obviously a joke.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #8  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 2:12 PM
ahealy's Avatar
ahealy ahealy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: San Antonio / Austin
Posts: 2,552
Quote:
Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown View Post
It should be pink, purple, green and gold. It should be built at 8934 Broadway, on the current location of PoolZoom.
I was really thinking these colors ... Are you referring to that crazy colorful one from years ago?

I see SA having a slender brown/pink tower with an industrial exposed crown. Maybe something similar to BoA plaza in Atlanta.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #9  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 5:42 PM
texastarkus texastarkus is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Far Sub-Urban San Antonio
Posts: 443
Frustrated

I'm gonna throw this out there mainly because I'm frustrated in the lack of construction right here in river city. I'll settle for anything tall no matter what it looks like. I really hate getting passed up by our neighbors to the north and having to live in their shadow....I know I shouldn't let my frustration show but come on what do we have to do?????
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 8:45 PM
Big A Big A is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 52
Quote:
Originally Posted by texastarkus View Post
I'm gonna throw this out there mainly because I'm frustrated in the lack of construction right here in river city. I'll settle for anything tall no matter what it looks like. I really hate getting passed up by our neighbors to the north and having to live in their shadow....I know I shouldn't let my frustration show but come on what do we have to do?????
Better get used to it, we will never have real skyscrapers here and Austin will continue to add them.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #11  
Old Posted Mar 11, 2018, 10:38 PM
ILUVSAT's Avatar
ILUVSAT ILUVSAT is offline
May the Schwartz be w/ U!
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Nomadic
Posts: 1,727
Quote:
Originally Posted by texastarkus View Post
I'm gonna throw this out there mainly because I'm frustrated in the lack of construction right here in river city. I'll settle for anything tall no matter what it looks like. I really hate getting passed up by our neighbors to the north and having to live in their shadow....I know I shouldn't let my frustration show but come on what do we have to do?????
I guess it's only fair...they've lived in our shadow for generations.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #12  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 12:27 AM
AwesomeSAView AwesomeSAView is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 648
Quote:
Originally Posted by ILUVSAT View Post
I guess it's only fair...they've lived in our shadow for generations.
AGAIN, people, don't understand that San Antonio and Austin are two TOTALLY different cities. They each stand on their own, and the sooner people STOP comparing the two cities, the better for BOTH cities.
UNBELIEVABLE......
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #13  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 2:12 AM
ahealy's Avatar
ahealy ahealy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: San Antonio / Austin
Posts: 2,552
This is SO interesting. I was born/raised in SA and moved to Austin around the age of 18. I always felt San Antonio held a timeless old world mystique to it, while Austin was this very new booming blank canvas of a capital city...

I love Austin, but feel it's kind of swallowed itself in certain ways. The architecture is OK but seems like a rushed finished product with some of our newbies... San Antonio is classic, majestic, artistic and an OG bad girl.

I really want to see SA catch up in one fell swoop with a new main skyscraper.

The End.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #14  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 2:53 AM
JACKinBeantown's Avatar
JACKinBeantown JACKinBeantown is offline
JACKinBeantown
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Location: Location:
Posts: 8,824
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahealy View Post
I was really thinking these colors ... Are you referring to that crazy colorful one from years ago?

I see SA having a slender brown/pink tower with an industrial exposed crown. Maybe something similar to BoA plaza in Atlanta.
I was joking. This is the address I posted... 8934 Broadway:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/89...22!4d-98.45882


Quote:
Originally Posted by ahealy View Post

I really want to see SA catch up in one fell swoop with a new main skyscraper.

The End.
Frost Tower
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #15  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 4:08 AM
AwesomeSAView AwesomeSAView is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 648
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahealy View Post
This is SO interesting. I was born/raised in SA and moved to Austin around the age of 18. I always felt San Antonio held a timeless old world mystique to it, while Austin was this very new booming blank canvas of a capital city...

I love Austin, but feel it's kind of swallowed itself in certain ways. The architecture is OK but seems like a rushed finished product with some of our newbies... San Antonio is classic, majestic, artistic and an OG bad girl.

I really want to see SA catch up in one fell swoop with a new main skyscraper.

The End.

SO very well and eloquently written and to the point!!
I don't think Austin minds that it has swallowed itself, and that's OKAY!!


AND yes, THE FROST TOWER......
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #16  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 7:15 AM
Fryguy Fryguy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 636
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahealy View Post
This is SO interesting. I was born/raised in SA and moved to Austin around the age of 18. I always felt San Antonio held a timeless old world mystique to it, while Austin was this very new booming blank canvas of a capital city...

I love Austin, but feel it's kind of swallowed itself in certain ways. The architecture is OK but seems like a rushed finished product with some of our newbies... San Antonio is classic, majestic, artistic and an OG bad girl.

I really want to see SA catch up in one fell swoop with a new main skyscraper.

The End.
How was Austin "swallowed itself out". Austin is beautiful and needed more, which it has done. It is amazing how much has been achieved in such little time. architecture is certainly worthy of much attention, each new addition is breathtaking. I was just in Austin this past weekend and purposelessly went through downtown to get to lake Travis. I saw much going on, lots of foot traffic, booming businesses and things of interest for all ages, while enjoying the sights of tall highrises in and around downtown (that is what downtown is meant to be).
While on N Mopac Expy, I could not help feel as if I was driving from O'Hare international (the train and clean highway) to downtown Chicago - only, smaller in scale. It was perfect. Having modern highrises doesn't make Austin any less of a unique city, it only adds to their diversity, which San Antonio lacks.

Downtown should be a place of tall buildings and unique architecture and prominence of a healthy and active commerce. I can see, while driving north on I 35, the high-rises of Austin from thirty miles away, similar to Houston, at which its highrises can be seen from 50 miles away. Coming back to San Antonio (south on i35) and what do you get? The sight of a restaurant at around 600ft and a long square next to it, that it. It's kind of embarrassing. Is it any reason why many Fortune 500 companies either leave or don't want to be here? People like looking at tall building and varied architecture. That is what a downtown is for; if you wanted something with no height or a bunch of 10 story buildings, then the midwest plains or outskirts of any major metropolitan, such as 1604 and i10 are definitely for you.

Nevertheless, I feel as if something really interesting will be proposed this year - perhaps something taller than 400ft by dec 2018...that is my prediction.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #17  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 12:58 PM
JACKinBeantown's Avatar
JACKinBeantown JACKinBeantown is offline
JACKinBeantown
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Location: Location:
Posts: 8,824
^^ Austin is no longer the cool, quaint, undiscovered place that was amazing for locals as it used to be. I went to UT and Austin was an amazing place to be... big enough to have city flavor but small enough to not be inundated by the hoards of people coming to SXSW, F1, etc. SXSW was just a small film festival at the time. Eeyore's birthday party was a fun, weird event for locals, you could get a ticket to ACL. That Austin is a thing of the past.

Totally different subject than Austin's tall buildings.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #18  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 1:48 PM
ahealy's Avatar
ahealy ahealy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: San Antonio / Austin
Posts: 2,552
Quote:
Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView View Post
SO very well and eloquently written and to the point!!
I don't think Austin minds that it has swallowed itself, and that's OKAY!!


AND yes, THE FROST TOWER......
Aw shucks, thanks

Fryguy, I know! I know! I love most of the projects we have going on here in Austin, but it can feel kind of premature at times. San Antonio's downtown (in my eyes) already appears way more established than Austin's CBD. I guess what I'm trying to say is.... I'm very excited about the idea of a few new 400-600ft projects, but you don't need to build like crazy to make the core great. Austin can't get back all the shit it's torn down over the decades and that makes me feel like we've kinda sold the city a bit.


aaaand fuck yeah, FROST!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #19  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 2:51 PM
JRG1974 JRG1974 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 106
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahealy View Post
Aw shucks, thanks

Fryguy, I know! I know! I love most of the projects we have going on here in Austin, but it can feel kind of premature at times. San Antonio's downtown (in my eyes) already appears way more established than Austin's CBD. I guess what I'm trying to say is.... I'm very excited about the idea of a few new 400-600ft projects, but you don't need to build like crazy to make the core great. Austin can't get back all the shit it's torn down over the decades and that makes me feel like we've kinda sold the city a bit.


aaaand fuck yeah, FROST!
I went to UT 20 years ago, back when Austin was still weird. Now when I go back, it feels a lot more west coast mainstream. It is still a great place to visit. It has just changed.

Austin's downtown has exploded. A few months ago I saw a show at the Palmer Center. After, we walked out and stood on the veranda that overlooks the river. The lights of the tall buildings were beautiful. It was nice to see all the tall buildings.

During the day, that is the only really nice thing you can say about 70 percent of the buildings. They are tall. They look like the same building just turned different ways. With as much money that is being spent, I would have thought that the city could have demanded more from the buildings from an architectural stand point. It reminds me a lot of Honolulu. A lot of tall faceless residential buildings. There are some gems. I just thought that Austin would be able to demand better.

You look at the older buildings, and they look like children lost among in a sea of adults. Lost and out of place. They may not have as much glass and glitz, but they were unique and quirky. The new buildings were built as if they never existed. Only the Frost building looks like it was ready for the transition. Aside from view corridors, does Austin have any design review? In the end, I would still love to have some of those buildings. Austin has definitely grown up.

As someone has mentioned, why do we keep comparing ourselves to Austin? Is it purely that it is close. People keep talking about Austin like everything going on there is great. San Antonio has a history like few cities west of the Mississippi. There is no town in Texas, that could have a place like the Pearl. There is a lot of history, we should do a better job of embracing it.

As for a tall building in San Antonio, I just hope that we don't get something like Oklahoma City. The Devon Tower is beautiful, but it completely obliterates the rest of their downtown. There is no harmony. San Antonio is a slow growing city, so we should use that to our advantage. If we do get a tall building, it needs to be able to blend in better with the skyline. We should take our time and get it right. There is a parking lot at Broadway and 3rd that I think would be a great place for a tall building. Coming from the airport, it would sit nicely in the middle of the skyline. It would bookend the business district with the Frost Tower on the west and this one on the east. It would help to frame in Travis Park and give it a little more life and purpose. It would look great come down Broadway, and it would look great behind the Christmas tree if they keep it in Travis Park.

Those are my thoughts...
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #20  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 3:17 PM
JACKinBeantown's Avatar
JACKinBeantown JACKinBeantown is offline
JACKinBeantown
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Location: Location:
Posts: 8,824
Quote:
Originally Posted by JRG1974 View Post
There is a parking lot at Broadway and 3rd that I think would be a great place for a tall building. Coming from the airport, it would sit nicely in the middle of the skyline. It would bookend the business district with the Frost Tower on the west and this one on the east. It would help to frame in Travis Park and give it a little more life and purpose. It would look great come down Broadway, and it would look great behind the Christmas tree if they keep it in Travis Park.
If you're talking about this parking lot, it would be great to have two buildings there. The tall one you're talking about as the "diamond" on the eastern half and another "square" to the west.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Br...929!4d-98.4869


I think from a supply & demand point of view, this area is the most likely candidate. I say that because of Frost Tower and Weston's plans combined with other developments in the works and the fact that it's already established as the "office" area of downtown with a smattering of residential mixed in.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Br...929!4d-98.4869
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


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 2:52 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

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