Triton Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Assume floor-ceiling ht of 1st floor is 25' + (51 x 14) = 740'-0" so ~60' additional height in architectural embellishments? Seems quite possible to top 800', though I would think maybe it will be just under? Since I'm Capt Pessimistic. Or just Captain Realistic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brijonmang Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Me too. He said 54 floors with two below ground. So I guess that means to the layman that this will be a 52-story building (above ground)? He threw out so many different heights, I'm not sure which is which but I'm guessing this'll now be exceeding 800' in height which will be Houston's first 800 foot something building and the fourth tallest in the city. Guys, all of this is hearsay until Swtsig confirms 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Curious... why is Swtsig the expert on building heights? I must have missed something? Again, just asking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I'm not sure what Swtsig does but his information along with the Urbanizer always seems to be well founded and solid so I always look at their info as,as close to the fact as anyone who I have read on here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro West Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I'm not sure what Swtsig does but his information along with the Urbanizer always seems to be well founded and solid so I always look at their info as,as close to the fact as anyone who I have read on here. Can you give a few examples of well founded information that swtig has given on this forum? I'm talking about info that can ACTUALLY be verified. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 700 Louisiana is 780 feet, with 53 occupied floors above ground (what look like the top three is actually a crown, and let's not forget the gable on top of that). It also has an exceptionally tall lobby. My net take is I am also perplexed by the recently tossed around numbers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) 700 Louisiana is 780 feet, with 53 occupied floors above ground (what look like the top three is actually a crown, and let's not forget the gable on top of that). It also has an exceptionally tall lobby. My net take is I am also perplexed by the recently tossed around numbers. The building's (Bank of America Center's) website shows 55 occupied floors above ground, which agrees with Emporis and the Hines description of the building... Keep in mind that the 55 floors are not all stacked on top of the exceptionally tall lobby. In any event, the information we've previously had for 609 Main make it pretty easy. If they are indeed adding another 4 stories to the previous 48 stories, the building will almost certainly exceed 800 feet. (The previous information was 756 feet with 48 stories. The four additional stories would only have to average 11 feet tall for the building to achieve the 800 foot mark.) Bank of America Center: 780 feet. 55 stories + very small crown. (14.18 feet per floor)BG Group Place: 630 feet. 46 stories. No crown. (13.7 feet per floor)609 Main: 800 feet. 52 stories. Significant crown. If we use the BG Group Place average of 13.7 feet per floor, 52 stories would get us to 712.4 feet, requiring a 87.6 foot crown to get to 800. Using BofA Center's average for 52 floors would get us to 737.4 feet, requiring only a 62.6 foot crown to get to 800. Edited June 11, 2014 by Houston19514 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I beg to differ with Emporis, et al. The elevator buttons go up to 53, as does the small building directory in the upper lobby on 47. The two window bays wide very top is also the width of the two elevator shafts serving the floors above 47, and would have the service elevator opening onto the balcony. Likewise, there is way more ground floor headroom than 25 feet as I walk in and out on a pretty routine basis - even on the side that constitutes the main stack. OTOH, your per floor calculation for BoA looks to be in the ballpark, and works regardless of what 54 and 55 happen to be. IDK - perhaps there are a couple floors in the Western Union switching building (the northeast quarter block that the rest of the structure was built around) that go into the 55 floors above grade calculation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I beg to differ with Emporis, et al. The elevator buttons go up to 53, as does the small building directory in the upper lobby on 47. The two window bays wide very top is also the width of the two elevator shafts serving the floors above 47, and would have the service elevator opening onto the balcony. Likewise, there is way more ground floor headroom than 25 feet as I walk in and out on a pretty routine basis - even on the side that constitutes the main stack. OTOH, your per floor calculation for BoA looks to be in the ballpark, and works regardless of what 54 and 55 happen to be. IDK - perhaps there are a couple floors in the Western Union switching building (the northeast quarter block that the rest of the structure was built around) that go into the 55 floors above grade calculation. Not continuing this to argue. Just find it interesting... It is possible (and not at all unusual) that one has to switch to another elevator on 53 in order to access 54 and 55. And, as you suggested, for the purposes of discussing height of the building compared to others, it does not really matter whether those floors are occupied (FWIW, the building's website suggests they are occupied). Whether occupied or not, they clearly take up the same height as an occupied floor. Yes, there is more than 25 feet of headroom on the ground floor, but the other 54 (or 52) floors of the building are not stacked on top of that headroom. Three of the lower office tower floors are bisected by the archway and connected by pedestrian bridges. So by the time you get to the top of that ground floor "headroom", you are ready for floor 5. The first four floors take up about 100 feet total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Not continuing this to argue. Just find it interesting... It is possible (and not at all unusual) that one has to switch to another elevator on 53 in order to access 54 and 55. And, as you suggested, for the purposes of discussing height of the building compared to others, it does not really matter whether those floors are occupied (FWIW, the building's website suggests they are occupied). Whether occupied or not, they clearly take up the same height as an occupied floor. Yes, there is more than 25 feet of headroom on the ground floor, but the other 54 (or 52) floors of the building are not stacked on top of that headroom. Three of the lower office tower floors are bisected by the archway and connected by pedestrian bridges. So by the time you get to the top of that ground floor "headroom", you are ready for floor 5. The first four floors take up about 100 feet total. I think you are right about having to switch elevators for the top 2 floors. I know PJ once said that they had barely any width at all in the top couple floors. There might not even be an elevator - some buildings have posh top floors only accessible by stairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I'm not sure what Swtsig does but his information along with the Urbanizer always seems to be well founded and solid so I always look at their info as,as close to the fact as anyone who I have read on here. Well, swtsig is an absolutely great source since he's in the industry and he usually provides information such as location of certain projects and, another key element, the square footage of a project. Swtsig has even seen the Amegy tower rendering before any of us have. Now I'll certainly wait for Swtsig to chime in here but I can't think of a time when the actual height was ever provided... just floor count. Besides Swtsig and Urbannizer, there are actually many other viable sources here. Another great source which I'm surprised no one has mentioned is Juanitos Superior. And some sources just aren't at liberty to say much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Does anyone recall the height of the "crown" of this building? It was pages and pages back, but I'm not sure if some recall how tall it was projected at being? Also, are we to assume some of the top floors (say 50, 51, 52) on this tower are included in the total floor count and include the architectural crown? Curious what "insiders" might say. I think this building would look better being taller. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Woooo! this is an absolutely fantastic building and I couldn't be happier that it's going to make an even greater presence on our skyline.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brijonmang Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Just FYI, my comment about Swtsig was meant as tongue-in-cheek since he/she is one of the major sources of new information when it comes to developments here. Didn't mean to start a discussion on who's an expert on what. Also, I wasn't able to edit my original comment so I had to post a new one. Any one else have issues with editing a post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Just FYI, my comment about Swtsig was meant as tongue-in-cheek since he/she is one of the major sources of new information when it comes to developments here. Didn't mean to start a discussion on who's an expert on what.Also, I wasn't able to edit my original comment so I had to post a new one. Any one else have issues with editing a post?Yeah, after so long it doesn't allow you to edit posts anymore. Kind of sucks sometimes.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 ^That happens I've found if enough time/people have posted after you. No worries. I was merely asking. Swtsig and Urbannizer do seem to have quite a bit of knowledge that most others do not have. I just thought it was curious that the post seemed to allude to the fact that without Swtsig (which I always hear as "swisstig" in my mind!) anything else was just speculation, and only they could produce 100% accurate information on any given project. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Not trying to argue with anyone here... but I have an insider who confirmed today 48 floors... I asked if he was counting the crown space and he said "yes, a total of 48 floors". Here is some detail: hieght: 756ft height - main roof: 697ft height - top floor: 683ft Floors above ground: 48 Floors below ground: 2 Construction end: Feb 2017 Parking places: 1,500 How tall is BG Group in reference to this info? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Not trying to argue with anyone here... but I have an insider who confirmed today 48 floors... I asked if he was counting the crown space and he said "yes, a total of 48 floors". Here is some detail: hieght: 756ft height - main roof: 697ft height - top floor: 683ft Floors above ground: 48 Floors below ground: 2 Construction end: Feb 2017 Parking places: 1,500 How tall is BG Group in reference to this info? I think BG Group Place is 630 ft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Not trying to argue with anyone here... but I have an insider who confirmed today 48 floors... I asked if he was counting the crown space and he said "yes, a total of 48 floors". Here is some detail:hieght: 756ftheight - main roof: 697ftheight - top floor: 683ftFloors above ground: 48Floors below ground: 2Construction end: Feb 2017Parking places: 1,500How tall is BG Group in reference to this info?That is the info we've had for a while. Maybe it's old? I'll try to confirm as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 That is the info we've had for a while. Maybe it's old? I'll try to confirm as well Good idea. Maybe there was a change at the top somewhere that hasn't trickeled down yet? It's possible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Would it not make sense for Hines to put out on the street (Chronicle) that they are increasing the building height by 4 floors? Seems like it would. That said: IF the building did increase in height we could assume the crown would be roughly the same dimensions above the height of the main roof (listed above by Avossos)? Currently that would be 59' The above has a 14.3 foot floor-floor (approx) which would be a 743.6' building (with 52 floors) + a 59' crown = 802.6' 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 ^That happens I've found if enough time/people have posted after you. No worries. I was merely asking. Swtsig and Urbannizer do seem to have quite a bit of knowledge that most others do not have. I just thought it was curious that the post seemed to allude to the fact that without Swtsig (which I always hear as "swisstig" in my mind!) anything else was just speculation, and only they could produce 100% accurate information on any given project. Agreed... it indeed sounded like that. There are many other sources here... and not all of the conversations happen in the public forums too. Some people only disclose information via private messaging here. Again, there's projects that people aren't at liberty to say publicly but it can certainly be discussed in the back channels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I think Hines leaked they were upping the number of floors from 41 last summer before announcing the number in October. I am not certain how much alteration to the structure (e.g. stronger foundation) would be needed for a floor increase of 4 floors. I'd think a slight height increase would pair nicely with a major tenant announcement at this point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClutchCity Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I think Hines leaked they were upping the number of floors from 41 last summer before announcing the number in October. I am not certain how much alteration to the structure (e.g. stronger foundation) would be needed for a floor increase of 4 floors. I'd think a slight height increase would pair nicely with a major tenant announcement at this point.That makes so much sense. Our new source mentioned that the top 2 floors were steel(I doubt they would use Iron) and used for amenities it would seem to fit your explanation. That way they probably wouldn't have to rework the foundation too much and the new tenant can have private amenity space on the top of their new tower. Would be awesome if this were true! Just have to wait and see. Houston seems to have so many things in store, and they are just starting to happen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 and a new vantage point... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Fantastic photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Not trying to argue with anyone here... but I have an insider who confirmed today 48 floors... I asked if he was counting the crown space and he said "yes, a total of 48 floors". Here is some detail: hieght: 756ft height - main roof: 697ft height - top floor: 683ft Floors above ground: 48 Floors below ground: 2 Construction end: Feb 2017 Parking places: 1,500 How tall is BG Group in reference to this info? That is the info we've had for a while. Maybe it's old? I'll try to confirm as wellmy source hadnt heard anything about 609 being taller either, and he had just looked at the latest plans their company had available earlier that day. though he seemed to think there would be 50 floors above ground? is 7/17/17 the official delivery date? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 7/17/2017. Sounds like a good date. Right in time for an Astros World Series run. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 End of 2016 is substantial completion date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Okay! Okay! I'll relax after this. Just wanted to give one last big update before I start at my new office in Memorial City on Monday. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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