Jump to content

Westin at Towncenter Progress

ToweringTurtle

By ToweringTurtle
in Virginia Beach

Recommended Posts


  • Replies 1.9k
  • Created
  • Last Reply
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

The Norfolk Marriot is 12.35ft per floor.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually it's not. The first two floors make up almost 50 feet of the entire building. The first floor has a double level atrium and rises almost 50' in line with the convention center next to it (and built into it) 21 floors of the building are all that actually make up the hotel rooms. 284' - 50' = 234' / 21 = 11.14. That puts it right about where almost all hotels are. Hotels are very minimal. You will never see a hotel take up the worlds tallest title. They are designed to be very minimal. Also they are normally built out of precast or formed in the field concrete slabs which allow floors to be thinner. People running the hotel have to make money and one way they do that is to cut as much floor height out of the design as possible. Thats why every hotel you ever go into has a window heating/air unit. By not running full systems they are allowed to cut down on head room, making the building MUCH cheaper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hoobo Burg

hoobo

Posted
Posted

Thats why every hotel you ever go into has a window heating/air unit.  By not running full systems they are allowed to cut down on head room, making the building MUCH cheaper.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Upscale hotels normally don't have window units. It wouldn't look nice. For example, the Monte Carlo in Vegas has corner units so it's a vertical system. But as you said, they remove the between-floor ducts so the stories are shorter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

Upscale hotels normally don't have window units.  It wouldn't look nice.  For example, the Monte Carlo in Vegas has corner units so it's a vertical system.  But as you said, they remove the between-floor ducts so the stories are shorter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, you are right about that. I almost forget about those. Normally you'll see the window units on more of a chain type hotel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

What about condos?  Wouldn't those units have floor or ceiling ducts?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, and since the hotel will most definately be built out of concrete, the floor slab is the structure. So a floor slab 8" - 12" thick would be all that is needed, maybe even less. Unlike normal column, beam construction found in steel buildings, where the floor slab is 6" thick sitting on steel joists or floor beams that connect to support beams which is another, say 24". All in all a floor of a steel beam from bottom of lowest support beam to top of slab can run in the range of two to three feet, and you still have to run ductwork below this. That's why steel buildings are so much taller, generally. Some steel buildings with floor joists are not tall floors because the joists used have large enough web openings in them to run the ductwork through them without having to go below. But they are more than 12'-0" usually. Whereas with prestressed concrete slabs or cast in place concrete you only have the 8 inches of concrete and that's it. Therefore you can have concrete floors at 10.5' - 11' and still have 2' of space to run ductwork assuming an 8' ceiling. More than likely the condo section of the Westin will run in the range of 12' floor heights to give around a 10' ceiling height for residents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

Okay, now that I know the height of the Westin project I made a crude measurement on the top floor height dependent on this picture.  Unfortunetly the results were disapointing. 

westin3.jpg

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That looks to be about right. Maybe a little taller, probably 420' - 440' range.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

This building is going to be massive still. Let's think about it. Dominion tower is all building no spire. It stands at around 340'. The AH is only 396' tall and has a tower that makes up about 100' of the entire height. Therefore the Armade Tower is somewhere around the 290' range. The Westin without the spire will be over 100' taller. Therefore the Westin will eclipse the AH total height including spire by 20 - 40' and on top of that you add a 60-70' tower, this thing is a monster by this areas standards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
johnhowell Whistle-Stop

johnhowell

Posted
Posted

This building is going to be massive still.  Let's think about it.  Dominion tower is all building no spire.  It stands at around 340'.  The AH is only 396' tall and has a tower that makes up about 100' of the entire height.  Therefore the Armade Tower is somewhere around the 290' range.  The Westin without the spire will be over 100' taller.  Therefore the Westin will eclipse the AH total height including spire by 20 - 40' and on top of that you add a 60-70' tower, this thing is a monster by this areas standards.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, but our area standard are relatively pathetic compared to metropolitan areas of simmilar size. I guess it takes baby steps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

Posted
Posted

This building is going to be massive still.  Let's think about it.  Dominion tower is all building no spire. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was my point. The Westin will look way taller than AH. I'm hoping that the Granby total is just a general figure and that the actual building will be more than 10ft taller than Dominion. It's still a beautiful building if not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hoobo Burg

hoobo

Posted
Posted

It's economics. The rents weren't there to make such tall structures viable. It was cheaper to build low-rise offices in Lynnhaven, Greenbrier, Hampton Roads Center, and Lake Wright than build towers. If VB hadn't stepped in with TC, there would probably be another shopping center or Wal-Mart on that site. So what would Norfolk have gained, another mid-rise building? Maybe Trader would have stayed in VB (since no traffic from TC) adding a third building to the Convergence Center.

These cities aren't competing because they want the bragging rights, it's about taxes. VB has the lowest business property tax to residential property tax ratio of all 7 cities. It needs more businesses to remain fiscally sound. This entire situation is like Orange County and that place survives just fine without a skyscraper downtown.

What kind of skyline is needed to not be pathetic? Several 500 or 600 foot buildings? who is going to fill those structures? Who will afford the rent for those structures?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
urbanfan Hamlet

urbanfan

Posted
Posted

That was my point. The Westin will look way taller than AH. I'm hoping that the Granby total is just a general figure and that the actual building will be more than 10ft taller than Dominion. It's still a beautiful building if not.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you mean about 110' right. Dominion is only 340'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.