River Tower (Completed)

[Arctic_Tern]

11 minutes ago, EJ_LEWIS said:

Wow River Tower has quite the impact on Fort Norfolk.   I hope more high rises will be coming to Fort Norfolk in the future. 

Lord knows there's space for it. There's a TON of potential for an accessible urban waterfront district in that area. I wish that one apartment complex didn't (apparently) fall through. Would have gone a long way with contributing to the character they're looking for. 

[carolinaboy]

20 hours ago, vdogg said:

19th actual floor completed. Working on the 20th (labelled 21st).

You could easily tell me this is the entire skyline of another small city and I'd believe it. Midtown is developing quite nicely. Wanted to get some top of the garage picks but there was lightning and I didn't feel safe up there.

 

Great pictures. Thanks.

[urbanlife]

It's starting to make quite a nice little secondary skyline.

[vdogg]

Actual 20th floor completed, elevator shaft goes up to the actual 24th floor. Not seeing indications that they've topped out yet, we're probably going to get a lot of lift from that glass crown.  It's interesting to me that the elevator shaft forms are still in place, makes me wonder if we might still go higher.

[baobabs727]

So skipping 13, you’re saying they think they’re on 21 right now? So three more to go Or only two, i.e., is 24 mechanical?

Edited July 25, 2020 by baobabs727

[vdogg]

7 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

So skipping 13, you’re saying they think they’re on 21 right now? So three more to go Or only two, i.e., is 24 mechanical?

They have completed what they call the 21st (actual 20th floor). Elevator shaft currently stops at an actual 24th floor. Whether that floor is considered mechanical, time will tell, but there will be at least 24 physical floors. 

[vdogg]

Given that each crane mast section is 20ft you can eyeball the height of the tower when comparing to the total height of the crane itself. Elevator shaft tops out at around 270ft from the looks of it. The crown may extend anywhere from 10-20ft above that last floor which will give us a 280-290ft final height if 24 will indeed be the last floor. 27 floors with the way they're building it would have given us around 320ft, which is close to the 326ft quoted in the paper when the tower was 27 stories, so fairly comfortable with the height estimate.

[baobabs727]

36 minutes ago, vdogg said:

Given that each crane mast section is 20ft you can eyeball the height of the tower when comparing to the total height of the crane itself. Elevator shaft tops out at around 270ft from the looks of it. The crown may extend anywhere from 10-20ft above that last floor which will give us a 280-290ft final height if 24 will indeed be the last floor. 27 floors with the way they're building it would have given us around 320ft, which is close to the 326ft quoted in the paper when the tower was 27 stories, so fairly comfortable with the height estimate.

Most excellent, and I concur. This thing will turn out much better than I feared after the scale-back ...and  not so much “worse” than originally conceived.  If that makes sense lol. Project salvaged.

Now if only we could get rid of the brick! Lol. Can’t have everything I guess. 

[Up2313]

Seeing all these towers rise at the same time is so awesome. Makes me miss commuting to ODU. I think all 3 look fantastic, can't wait to see what all may get built in this area in the future. 

[Icetera]

On 7/25/2020 at 3:04 PM, vdogg said:

Given that each crane mast section is 20ft you can eyeball the height of the tower when comparing to the total height of the crane itself. Elevator shaft tops out at around 270ft from the looks of it. The crown may extend anywhere from 10-20ft above that last floor which will give us a 280-290ft final height if 24 will indeed be the last floor. 27 floors with the way they're building it would have given us around 320ft, which is close to the 326ft quoted in the paper when the tower was 27 stories, so fairly comfortable with the height estimate.

If only they could find a way to tack another 7' onto that quoted height so it could be classified as a skyscraper (333').

[vdogg]

8 hours ago, Icetera said:

If only they could find a way to tack another 7' onto that quoted height so it could be classified as a skyscraper (333').

The building itself will only be between 280-290 ft, so 7 ft won't matter. The crane is 330ft. Original tower would've been 326 ft.

[Icetera]

16 hours ago, vdogg said:

The building itself will only be between 280-290 ft, so 7 ft won't matter. The crane is 330ft. Original tower would've been 326 ft.

Ah, so I was trimmed down some.  I missed that.

[baobabs727]

21 minutes ago, Icetera said:

Ah, so I was trimmed down some.  I missed that.

Snip, snip!  

Yes, actually it was snipped & clipped, and then it was added onto again. The net result being 24 versus 27 floors. 

Edited July 30, 2020 by baobabs727

[vdogg]

22 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

Snip, snip!  

Yes, actually it was snipped & clipped, and then it was added onto again. The net result being 24 versus 27 floors. 

Not so fast. The elevator shaft has been raised again, and now extends five floors above the actual 20th, for a total of 25 floors. We may be close to the original height once this is done.

[baobabs727]

8 hours ago, vdogg said:

Not so fast. The elevator shaft has been raised again, and now extends five floors above the actual 20th, for a total of 25 floors. We may be close to the original height once this is done.

Wow!! I’m excited!

Edited July 31, 2020 by baobabs727

[baobabs727]

19 hours ago, NFKjeff said:

IIRC the original plan also called for a rooftop restaurant. If they are not overly concerned with the covidicity, and have foresight, the restaurant may still be in play.

Oh, that is an intriguing thought! Covid will pass, but will their budget allow for such an endeavor now? Interesting how they had sought advice from their architect to make the building “more efficient” in design, which meant squattier, but since then they’ve been adding floors. 

[urbanlife]

A rooftop restaurant at this location would offer a great skyline view provided the buildings east of this site in Fort Norfolk aren't built taller than this one. Though I am guessing it would offer some good water views, even if taller buildings went up in Fort Norfolk. 

[baobabs727]

Lol

[vdogg]

13 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

Lol

I'm about to file a complaint for false advertising...

[baobabs727]

8 hours ago, vdogg said:

I'm about to file a complaint for false advertising...

Yeah!

[baobabs727]

Does anyone remember these renderings? I got them from a link in this thread. Yes, they still exist! This was the first or second iteration. And then we had the third and the fourth (and final I’m thinking) version that’s going up now. This project has been in the works for 13 years! 
 

[vdogg]

I actually prefer that design to what’s going up now. It looks more modern and dynamic, even though it is shorter.

Speaking of height, it appears that they are pouring yet more concrete for the elevator shaft. The building is now at 21 actual floors (labeled 22). That shaft is way taller than 2 additional floors and they’re pouring more...  Hmm. 

[vdogg]

2 more floors would be about half the current height of the elevator shaft. The concrete boom is currently in position to pour more concrete for the shaft. I’m confused as to what process they need to go through when making changes to a building already under construction but apparently it’s different than the normal planning procedures.

[baobabs727]

11 hours ago, vdogg said:

I actually prefer that design to what’s going up now. It looks more modern and dynamic, even though it is shorter.

Speaking of height, it appears that they are pouring yet more concrete for the elevator shaft. The building is now at 21 actual floors (labeled 22). That shaft is way taller than 2 additional floors and they’re pouring more...  Hmm. 

I totally and completely agree with you. I just didn’t want to say that because I was feeling “sad” and resigned to reality lol....as I was reminiscing and looking at these renderings. It looks very expensive! I think that was the problem.

Yeah, this design is really modern, airy and light, dynamic, textured and...sort of ...more optimistic?  I know that’s an odd descriptor to assign  to a building, but it just appears more forward-looking. It builds and builds with those multi leveled tiers, and reaches toward the sky with that beautiful, thin tower.   I happen to like those big exposed balconies, as well. 

What we are getting now is tallish and shiny with the glass (and more brick than we would we like), but it kinda screams 2000‘s corporate executive offices or something. It doesn’t really look like a high-rise residential bldg. I mean, I guess it does, but it could be anything,  really. I think they added just enough brick to satisfy the local “Williamsburg” crowd, and barely enough glass to satisfy the younger generation of 55 and better who will be living there. Remember, this is a 55-year-old and up building, not 65 like the building next-door.

In the end, I think it came down to cost, as most everything does in construction. That original building screams “expensive!”

Edited August 10, 2020 by baobabs727

[baobabs727]

Is it possible that they are sending the elevator shaft into the mechanical floor or floors? I mean I don’t have the schematics in front of me. Maybe none of us do.
 

However, It would not shock me if they were adding a floor to two because sometimes with these highrise projects,  leasing activity doesn’t really explode until people get excited as they see some steel and glass going up. Didn’t something like this happen with the Westin tower? Or perhaps it was announced just prior to breaking ground that they had added floors. I don’t know it’s been so long ago ha ha.

Edited August 10, 2020 by baobabs727