Question about San Antonio

[Jeeper]

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but I'm curious why San Antonio doesn't have more highrises than it currently does. The city's population would seem to support them, and the River Walk would appear to be a magnet for commercial and residential towers. I'm just kind of surprised that SA's tallest is a hotel, and that a city of SA's stature doesn't have something more substantial.

[NBTX11]

Originally Posted by Jeeper

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but I'm curious why San Antonio doesn't have more highrises than it currently does. The city's population would seem to support them, and the River Walk would appear to be a magnet for commercial and residential towers. I'm just kind of surprised that SA's tallest is a hotel, and that a city of SA's stature doesn't have something more substantial.

SA does have a lot of highrises. A lot of them are outside of downtown, I believe KevinfromTX stated SA has more highrises outside of DT than Austin and Ft Worth combined, or something like that.

There are several reasons why some believe SA's downtown is lacking, I will let others speculate on that. Personally, I think it looks great, especially from ground level. I will give one reason though, history. You aren't going to see a bunch of high rises around the Alamo, that is hallowed ground, so it would have to be in other areas of DT. Plus the city wants to preserve all the historic buildings, character and charm of DT.

SA's DT is also very spread out, making it look smaller in photos than it actually is or feels at ground level. All the talls are way, way apart, not compact like most cities talls. This makes a huge difference.

By the way, I am sure you are aware there is a 34 story, 22 story, and 14 story going up right now DT, with more to follow...(hopefully much more).

[ydoc14]

Originally Posted by Jeeper

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but I'm curious why San Antonio doesn't have more highrises than it currently does. The city's population would seem to support them, and the River Walk would appear to be a magnet for commercial and residential towers. I'm just kind of surprised that SA's tallest is a hotel, and that a city of SA's stature doesn't have something more substantial.

SA's tallest is an observation tower at 622'

I don't care if Tower of the Americas is not considered a "building," I consider it one and I never consider the Marriott Rivercenter as SA's tallest. So, if you start thinking of 622' instead of 490' (the top of the pyramids on the Marriott Rivercenter, since this is the "top" where one's eye is drawn to) then SA has a pretty tall buil...wait...structure

[ydoc14]

Originally Posted by NBTX11

SA does have a lot of highrises. A lot of them are outside of downtown, I believe KevinfromTX stated SA has more highrises outside of DT than Austin and Ft Worth combined, or something like that.

There are several reasons why some believe SA's downtown is lacking, I will let others speculate on that. Personally, I think it looks great, especially from ground level. I will give one reason though, history. You aren't going to see a bunch of high rises around the Alamo, that is hallowed ground, so it would have to be in other areas of DT. Plus the city wants to preserve all the historic buildings, character and charm of DT.

SA's DT is also very spread out, making it look smaller in photos than it actually is or feels at ground level. All the talls are way, way apart, not compact like most cities talls. This makes a huge difference.

By the way, I am sure you are aware there is a 34 story, 22 story, and 14 story going up right now DT, with more to follow...(hopefully much more).

You're absolutely right. The skyline (minus ToA) might look short from afar but once you're in DT everything becomes really impressive. Plus the streets in DT (minus Commerce & Market) are narrow and this also makes everything seem tall on those streets even when they're really not. On a side note, sometimes I swear the Weston Centre has to be taller than 444'

[Chicago3rd]

I moved into San Antonio in 1980. SA didn't want to become a city of urban density. It was really into a laid back way of living...which included the wide open range. People didn't say hay lets build a sprawal. People just wanted space. Having physical urban core was never a goal for San Antonio. SA has always wanted more people to move in but they wanted them to come and enjoy the lifestyle that was just there...not to change it too much. Just become a bigger San Antonio. The wide open feeling equates to a world that is "car oriented". So now we have what we now have.

BUT i have to say...even though I do not like sprawal there are some very very handsome beautiful big campuses out there....that adhere to the spread out feeling of San Antonio. Guess the biggest flaw was they never thought about becoming too big....physically. Am sure the folks who built out in the boon docks around the airport in the 1960's aren't that happy with the fact they are now 15 miles into the city now.

But I think...the spirit of San Antonio as a lifestyle will meld the urban and suburban together...and hopefully we will get even a better city there.

I have been out of SA since 1990...but have visited. Still love it there.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by ydoc14

SA's tallest is an observation tower at 622'

I don't care if Tower of the Americas is not considered a "building," I consider it one and I never consider the Marriott Rivercenter as SA's tallest. So, if you start thinking of 622' instead of 490' (the top of the pyramids on the Marriott Rivercenter, since this is the "top" where one's eye is drawn to) then SA has a pretty tall buil...wait...structure

Where did you hear that 490 foot height for the Marriott Rivercenter? I've only ever heard 546 to the spires and 441 to the roof.

For statistical geeks like me, I still call the tallest "building" the Marriott, but yeah, my eyes are always on the Tower of the Americas whenever I'm in town.

[NBTX11]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Where did you hear that 490 foot height for the Marriott Rivercenter? I've only ever heard 546 to the spires and 441 to the roof.

For statistical geeks like me, I still call the tallest "building" the Marriott, but yeah, my eyes are always on the Tower of the Americas whenever I'm in town.

Thier talking about where the pyramid meets, not the entire spires. The entire spire is 546. In my opinion, the entire spire is part of the building, not just the pyramid part, so I would go with 546.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yes, spires are included in official building heights. Antennas and signs aren't, but spires are since they're an architectural feature of the building, designed by the architect to be a part of the design, not for utility.

That's great to hear about the 490 foot height at the pyramidal point, though. I'd still be interested in hearing where that height came from. It's always good to have several heights for a building to different points.

[ydoc14]

Originally Posted by NBTX11

Thier talking about where the pyramid meets, not the entire spires. The entire spire is 546. In my opinion, the entire spire is part of the building, not just the pyramid part, so I would go with 546.

True the spires are part of the building and the highest point, but the reason I don't like to include the 546' is because when I look at the building, my eye is not drawn to the top of the spires because they're not big enough to give the visual impression as being the top of the building. My eye is naturally drawn to the top of the pyramids as being the top of the building, just like when I look at Toa my eye is drawn to the base of the antenna 622' not the top of the antenna which is 750'. But I have really been wanting to ask where other people's eye is drawn to when looking at the Marriott Rivercenter in terms of the top of the building...so I'm asking

I just can't make myself consider the Rivercenter to be 546' because my eye is never drawn to that point when I'm looking at the top of the building. I hope I'm making sense

[ydoc14]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Yes, spires are included in official building heights. Antennas and signs aren't, but spires are since they're an architectural feature of the building, designed by the architect to be a part of the design, not for utility.

That's great to hear about the 490 foot height at the pyramidal point, though. I'd still be interested in hearing where that height came from. It's always good to have several heights for a building to different points.

The diagram of the building here on SkyscraperPage

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by ydoc14

The diagram of the building here on SkyscraperPage

Oh, ok. That was most likely a guess, though. The illustrator of that drawing got the height from Emporis which lists the spires at 546 feet, and the roof at 441 feet. The height of the pyramid probably is around that height, but I've never heard a specific number for it before, that's why I asked.

My eye is also usually drawn to the pyramidal points. The reason being, it's high up there, so yeah, that's good, but also more than just a pointy spire it's a bit interesting. I'm not a big fan of spires since they're rarely creative, often just a twig on top of a skyscraper, but the spires on the Marriott are definitely better than most, even unusual. I also tend to gawk at all the setbacks on the building. The Marriott has great massing. It has the old grand skyscraper look to it. I like to think that it was probably inspired, at least a little bit, by the Waldorf=Astoria in New York.
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=...orkcity-ny-usa

[adtobias]

to answer the original question. sa is just behind the times when I come to urbanization of it downtown area

[ydoc14]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Oh, ok. That was most likely a guess, though. The illustrator of that drawing got the height from Emporis which lists the spires at 546 feet, and the roof at 441 feet. The height of the pyramid probably is around that height, but I've never heard a specific number for it before, that's why I asked.

My eye is also usually drawn to the pyramidal points. The reason being, it's high up there, so yeah, that's good, but also more than just a pointy spire it's a bit interesting. I'm not a big fan of spires since they're rarely creative, often just a twig on top of a skyscraper, but the spires on the Marriott are definitely better than most, even unusual. I also tend to gawk at all the setbacks on the building. The Marriott has great massing. It has the old grand skyscraper look to it. I like to think that it was probably inspired, at least a little bit, by the Waldorf=Astoria in New York.
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=...orkcity-ny-usa

Yeah, it looks like the top of the pyramid is the midpoint between the top of the spires and the roof, which would put it at 493.5', so that's probably how the illlustrator figured it. I'd say that's probably close to what it really is. But maybe, just maybe, it's 6.5' higher than my guess

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by ydoc14

...My eye is naturally drawn to the top of the pyramids as being the top of the building, just like when I look at ToA my eye is drawn to the base of the antenna 622' not the top of the antenna which is 750'...

Wait a minute...The tip of the antenna on ToA is at 750'. I thought it was 730'. Not that it makes much visual difference. But, 750' sounds better; right?!?

[jtk1519]

Downtown San Antonio is for tourists... that's why it's not any taller and that's why the tallest "building" is a hotel. I found that out after living there. I would say most San Antonians almost never go downtown. In terms of the buisness and dense(r) center of San Antonio... the downtown for the real people, I frankly found that to be the Medical Center area.

[NBTX11]

There are also tons of highrises on Loop 410, too bad they didn't put all the highrises downtown.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Wait a minute...The tip of the antenna on ToA is at 750'. I thought it was 730'. Not that it makes much visual difference. But, 750' sounds better; right?!?

The old height that had always been listed was 750 feet to the antenna. Recently, however an editor at Emporis found out that the height is now 730 feet. Not sure if that means the old height was incorrect, or if they removed part of the antenna. I tried getting to bottom of that with the person, but they never replied back.

[starvinggryphon]

Originally Posted by jtk1519

Downtown San Antonio is for tourists... that's why it's not any taller and that's why the tallest "building" is a hotel. I found that out after living there. I would say most San Antonians almost never go downtown. In terms of the buisness and dense(r) center of San Antonio... the downtown for the real people, I frankly found that to be the Medical Center area.

What a sickening thing to say.......Medical Center is not downtown for the real people, just for the detached suburbanites. I hate to hear people say that they have lived here and never gone south of North Star Mall. There are obviously two San Antonios, the real one with downtown as it's CBD and the suburban sprawling mess to the north with Medical Center as it's CBD. I dont live downtown but I work there and support it's bars/clubs/restaurants because it's the real city. The tourists have to share it with me, not the other way around.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by jtk1519

Downtown San Antonio is for tourists... that's why it's not any taller and that's why the tallest "building" is a hotel. I found that out after living there. I would say most San Antonians almost never go downtown. In terms of the buisness and dense(r) center of San Antonio... the downtown for the real people, I frankly found that to be the Medical Center area.

Medical center? I'm sorry, I seriously have no idea what that means.

[ydoc14]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

Medical center? I'm sorry, I seriously have no idea what that means.

Northwest San Antonio, west of I-10 and Fredericksburg, north of 410