[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4697/...cccd57e2_b.jpgCPS Energy Construction by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

Looking forward to this being completed. Thanks for the update!

https://image.ibb.co/d8xuCx/Unknown.jpg

https://image.ibb.co/n9rbQH/Unknown_1.jpg

A few update pics from yesterday.

Crane tower going up.

https://image.ibb.co/nEDUfH/Unknown_3.jpg

Still disappointed that this is what CPS decided. I don't see the cost benefit of taking these buildings down to their core against building something new.

But, these buildings should look a lot better when done.

I am with you on this. Makes no sense to me financially. Over 200 million and 28 months to redo a gross building. The Frost Tower cost 145 million. It would have been cheaper to just start over.

It was probably the best possible outcome for that property though, considering it will now be occupied for a long time to come, and it was not commercially attractive. Who knows when the building might otherwise have been leased?

I absolutely understand your thought on this, but CPS is a public entity, in that a good portion of their revenue comes from the citizenry. While I'm sure this property will be upgraded, it is incumbent on them to use the money we pay them wisely.

I don't know all of the formulations they used to come to this decision, but 250 million for this renovation vs. 145 million to build Frost Tower from the ground up seems a little out of line.

I'm sure demolition of these buildings, coupled with a new tower, would have been at least as expensive, if not more.

And, perhaps, comparing this with the cost of Frost is a bit unfair, as the deal with the city meant they didn't have to buy the land.

^^ Yeah, Frost was a vacant lot with only a parking lot to tear up. Demolishing these would require complete demolition, tearing up the foundations (A: possibly), piling and pouring new foundations (if A then B), and then the complete construction costs. I don't see how that could have been cheaper.

They're going to look better than before, but not by a whole lot. Oh well, at least it's an improvement.

The crane for CPS is going up, and its tall!!!!

Will try to snap a picture of it later today when I run downtown.

For those who prefer to see a tiny partial view of it from a distance, look at the Frost northeast web cam between the two tall buildings on the left:

https://app.oxblue.com/open/KDC/frostbank

[IMG]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/795/3...4502a48d_b.jpgCPS Energy Construction by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

I remember the Grand Hyatt going up really fast and that was on the River. I was looking at old maps, and wow...from Dec 2006 - the building that was there was still standing, then in Oct 2008 the Grand Hyatt was pretty much finished, including it 5 (that's impressive) levels of ground parking. Demolishing a building isn't expensive. Relatedly, Austin has a building going down on the 25th. I think I'll be there for that.

Can we officially label this one under construction??!!

FAA crane permit - the height is listed as 326 feet.

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external...58330853&row=2

From the Frost web cam you can see that they have already removed the facade from many of the floors.

https://s26.postimg.cc/uwm0ha35l/20180416_152753.jpg

Taken on 4/16/18. View that you would see when standing on the dam.

Updates on this project. Taken on 5/16/18

https://s26.postimg.cc/rot7cst95/20180516_150906.jpg

https://s26.postimg.cc/kllbx5syh/20180516_151113.jpg

https://s26.postimg.cc/ih0yw0eg9/20180516_151219-1.jpg

I have a good feeling that this project is going to look fantastic, and even more fantastic at night with the lighting!!!:cheers:

I know I'm in the minority here, but I can't help to think this whole approach is stupid.

These buildings have been essentially demolished. They should have been torn down entirely, and a new, skyline changing building put up on this property.

It may still spur some development in the area, but CPS could have built an iconic tower, while consolidating it's departments, which is what is supposed to be the purpose of moving it's operations DT in the first place.

Yes, cast your arrows at will, but I'm still very disappointed by this. :hell:

You're allowed to have your opinion. You're right they could have easily been down. But I'm not mad at what the current design is.

Agreed. It's a horrible waste of money and time. Frost, once again stating this, costs $142 million. A new building! A beauty, mind I add. This whole project is weird and in the same vein, sadly, as the Hemifair project.

My guess is CPS doesn't have a reason to want to build a tall tower. They have a budget to work with and tearing down the buildings completely, digging up the foundation, installing new foundations and constructing an entirely new building after hiring an architect/engineering team to design it would be much more costly than removing and rebuilding the facade and inner workings of buildings with existing foundations and frames.

This and it's utility customers would be up in arms if CPS built a skyline changing building. I'm sure the majority of it's customers care less where and in what building CPS works out of as long as their rates don't increase.

^^ That too... yeah.

I sincerely doubt it’s either a horrible waste of money nor a waste of time. You’d be foolish to not think CPS Energy, a publicly owned company, wouldn’t do its due diligence when determining which route to take. That includes a cost benefit analysis. They did their homework, so to say the things you say just because you personally disagree with the way they went is unnecessary. I can promise you had they had to buy land and build from scratch, they’d have spent way more than $142 million.

There's also the public's perception of building new vs. rehabbing. Even if the two options theoretically were to come to the exact same cost, in the public's eye it would look better to rehab an old building than to build a new, attention-grabbing skyscraper. People (even a vocal minority) would say, "Why are you wasting the public's money building a shiny new building for yourselves and making our bills go up?" Then more people would hear that outcry and jump on the bandwagon, causing a headache for CPS. So by rehabbing an old building, they avoid that scenario altogether. It's politics, but politics is largely about perception.

Agree 100% with you and SKW above.

Btw do people not realize how ugly these buildings were? This will look like two new buildings.

Also agree 100% Jack. Was going to post something along those lines, but ya beat me to it!

Yes, I realize how ugly they are. That's why I'd prefer they be torn down. It's a moot point now, and I was just venting a little, while trying to stir up some comments as it had been dead for a few days.

At least you are HONEST about what you were trying to do:cheers:

And, IMO, again, the transformation of these two "ugly" building will be AMAZING!!!:cheers:

I so wish there was a like button on this forum. :tup:

[IMG]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1736/...3c840b2f_b.jpgCPS Energy Renovations by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

Scooter Tour 6/23
 

Bird Scooter Tour today and I snapped a few pics.https://i.imgur.com/1mwgwQW.jpg[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/fH6TFXf.jpg

It's interesting seeing the bones of those buildings. It's kind of pretty actually.

^^ Yeah, I was thinking it looks better already.

[IMG]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/939/2...bf5ed2dc_b.jpgcps energy construction by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

I will say it again, IMO this building transformation by CPS is going to be spectacular, especially when lit at night!!!:cheers:

Well one thing for sure is this is a lot faster than building new. If they were building new it would probably be at least another year before they had the topping out party, which is basically where they are now.

Umm...what? lol

☝️why do you put comments like that on here? Does it make you feel cool?

Fry guy, you seem dumbfounded, so i’ll explain more on what I was thinking.

New Frost tower was proposed publicly Summer 2014. At that time, Frost Bank had already committed to moving to the new tower, so prelim architectural, space planning, budget estimates had already gotten far enough along for Frost Bank to agree to a lease size and cost. So probably the project started at least a year before that, but who knows.

CPS has been kicking around the idea for a new HQ for a while, but had no site, no design, etc. Summer 2016, they announce they have picked a site (but don’t have full architectural plans, haven’t closed on the land, etc.

Come early summer 2018, Frost tower tops out concrete superstructure, and skin is following closely behind. Late summer, CPS has removed the old skin, and has the concrete superstructure. So, CPS is several months behind Frost, but considering Frost started 2-3 years earlier, fairly close.

So the point is, for Frost, from announcement to move in is about 5 years, and they’ve really probably been working on it for 6+. (And they have moved very quickly!)

By making the choice to gut and redo existing buildings, CPS timeline will probably be at least a year faster than if they had chosen a new build option.

The remodel is taking just as long as a completely new building from foundation to completion and is costing nearly the same (or more) as a new building. Much of the complaints illustrated throughout this forum. They will not be finished until 2020 spring or fall.

Don't be so sensitive. 🙄

It only takes as long if you don’t count the huge amount of time and expense of Preconstruction for engineers to figure out the geotech in soils, design the foundation and the structure, etc.

As stated above, Frost tower had a 2-3 year head start, and will probably finish 6-12 months before CPS.

@Txdev, I wouldn't bother. He's "that guy" there are a handful on here. It's a shame.

Txdev is right about the time frame. It may seem to be moving slowly now, but I'm sure they had to do some asbestos abatement before they could move forward since it's an older building. Basically, anything built before 1975 is going to have asbestos in it. Building a new building from scratch would have meant needing to dig for the foundation, and that would have taken longer - easily a year or more. Digging takes forever in South and Central Texas because of the limestone bedrock we have. It's good foundation for skyscrapers, but it takes a while to get through also.

[IMG]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/937/2...ac119c51_b.jpgCPS Energy Construction by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4832/...2ae6fa1a_b.jpgCPS Energy Construction by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

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