840 replies to this topic

[John T Roberts]

We all noticed several good views from the west in Downtown while on the tour.  Since our tour was on skyscrapers, we went up to 9th & Commerce to take a close look at the construction.

[John T Roberts]

Since Austin captured the front of the building yesterday, I'm only adding my photos from the rear of the building.  I had to shoot out of the window of the car, so these are not centered properly.

deco969-01-15-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

deco969-01-15-23-3 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

The rebar cages for the columns on the 24th floor are in place.

[Stadtplan]

Here's a couple of shots from Saturday:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stadtplan]

Some updates from the owners project team::

[John T Roberts]

This week's construction photo features Austin's shot from Throckmorton & 9th Streets.

deco969-01-22-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

The view from a little ways down Commerce Street shows that some of the columns on the 24th floor have now been poured.

deco969-01-22-23-1 by jtrobert, on Flickr

[John T Roberts]

I have this weekend's construction photos of the building.  The first one is a zoomed in view from 9th & Houston.  You can see that there will be two slabs at the rooftop pool.  The lower one is at the bottom of the pool and the top is the continuation of the 24th floor out to the roof deck.  You can see some of the rebar of the lounge area to the back side of the pool area.  Some columns are poured for the 24th floor.  You can clearly see where the penthouse levels will be rising on the south side of the building.

deco969-01-28-23-1 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

The view from south on Commerce Street shows some of the form work is in place to pour the 25th floor slab.

deco969-01-28-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

Finally, the view from 8th & Jones.  You can see that the form work is in place for the 25th floor of the elevator core.  You can also see the rebar in place for some of the the columns on the 25th level.

deco969-01-28-23-3 by jtrobert, on Flickr

[Austin55]

A couple of quick drone shots 

 

 

[John T Roberts]

Nice shots, as usual, Austin.  It appears that our ice storm slowed the construction of the building quite a bit.

[Austin55]

Updated view from the garage adjacent the Omni

 

[John T Roberts]

Nice shot.  We noticed the construction progress on today's Walking Tour, but we went to the Near Southside, so we weren't very close.  I'm probably going down there to shoot tomorrow, but unless I notice something important on the lower floors, I won't post them here on the forum.  I missed last weekend because not much happened from the week before due to the ice storm.

[JBB]

I noticed that the view from Belknap going west from 121 is a really nice perspective.  The January image in Streetview doesn't do it justice:

 

https://www.google.c...!7i16384!8i8192

[Stadtplan]

I noticed that the view from Belknap going west from 121 is a really nice perspective.  The January image in Streetview doesn't do it justice:

 

https://www.google.c...!7i16384!8i8192

 

I agree JBB, it's a nice place to spy a quick view of the project.  I took this (um....maybe while driving, carefully) back in Dec.

 

[Stadtplan]

Took this Sunday afternoon 2/12/23:

 

[johnfwd]

Good shot from a southeastern perspective.  It's too bad this residential tower tops out at 27 floors.  Unfortunately for tenants, their view to the west will be obstructed by the twin towers.  

[John T Roberts]

Some vertical progress has been made on the building this week.  All of the form work is in place on the 24th floor where the rooftop pool is located.  The club room in the back of the lower roof has the forms in place.  The rebar on the columns has been extended up to form the pinnacles on this partial floor.  Columns have been poured on the 25th floor with most of the forms in place for the 26th floor slab.  Last, but not least, the forms are in place for the elevator/stair core and the other stair on the 26th floor of the penthouse levels.

deco969-02-19-23-1 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

This is the view of the top of the building from the 24th floor lobby of the Kimpton Harper Hotel.  Please pardon the reflection in the window.  I tried my best to eliminate it, but I was not successful.

deco969-02-19-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

Finally, the back side of the building showing all of the things going on at the top.

deco969-02-19-23-3 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

As the building is quickly heading toward topping out, does anyone have any comments?

[Stadtplan]

When you were up in Kimpton, did you happen to see how the Annex is coming along?

[John T Roberts]

Check out the Hilton Hotel Annex thread.

[rriojas71]

I thought the southern side of the building was going to be 4 stories taller than the northern side?  From the current perspective it seem like the 27th floor won't stand out much from the rest of the building.

[John T Roberts]

The 23rd floor is the last full floor of the "L" shaped tower.  The 24th floor has the rooftop pool.  That 24th floor also has a club room that is set to the rear of that wing of the building.  You can see that this club room does not extend to the north wall of the building.  I also think that part of this floor extends northward from the core to provide a shelter for the rooftop deck.  The 25th floor can be seen from the back of the building and it is the one with the form work in place.  The elevator/stair and stair cores are the only parts visible as solid elements on the 26th floors.  The 27th floor is yet to be framed, poured, and put into place.  Then, that will leave the unoccupied 28th floor, which is the elevator overrun, stair access to the roof, and any roof setbacks and decorations to hide HVAC equipment. Also, remember that these floors have a greater floor to floor height, so that section of the building will rise a little higher.  From the Commerce Street side of the building, the south side will probably appear to be 4 stories taller, but the design has changed somewhat from the beginning, so there could be some visible changes.

 

You might want to refer to Nitixope's post #631 in this thread.  It clearly shows the latest elevations of the Commerce St. facade of the building.  The link to that post is: https://www.fortwort...c=6475&p=143459

[Stadtplan]

A few evening shots trying to decide which one I like best from this quick stop:







Kind of cool super lens flarey:

[John T Roberts]

Nice shots.  I see you caught Orion and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

[Stadtplan]

Nice shots.  I see you caught Orion and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

Thanks for pointing that out, I hadnt even noticed. I captured, uploaded and posted to the board all directly via phone method. (I borrowed the nice phone for a few minutes to take the shots.)

[John T Roberts]

You are welcome.  I always look in night photographs to see if any of the stars show in the sky.  Normally, I wouldn't point out the constellations or a particular star (I might do it for a planet), but Orion really showed up in one of the photographs.  Sirius was the bright star on the far left of that photograph, so I had to make note of them.

[John T Roberts]

I took new pictures of the construction today.  However, I probably won't be able to post them until at least tomorrow.

[Austin55]

I'm excited to see your photos, John. 

[John T Roberts]

It's getting toward the top.  Formwork for the core is on level 27 and a few of the columns have the rebar in place on that level.  In other words, work is now up to the last occupied level of the building.

[John T Roberts]

Topping out of the building is nearing.  Work is up to the 27th and final occupied floor.  The form work for the core is in place on Level 27 and a few columns have their rebar in place.  After this level, there will be the elevator overrun and the extension of the core stair to access the roof.  On top of all of that will be the final decorative elements to hide what is on the roof.  The first view is from 9th & Throckmorton.

deco969-02-26-23-1 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

The second view is from 12th & Jones where you can see the rebar on the columns for the 27th floor.

deco969-02-26-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

Finally the back of the building, taken from 8th & Jones, reveals the form work for the core elements and some of the column rebar on the 27th floor.

deco969-02-26-23-3 by jtrobert, on Flickr

[TLA]

Taken Feb 24th from T&P.

 

[Stadtplan]

Will this view of Deco is be blocked by the Omni expansion?

[JBB]

I would imagine so.

[TLA]

Yes, I think it will. The Water Gardens should remain unobstructed. Additionally, the view (out of frame) will be great for the new A&M campus.

[John T Roberts]

We are nearly to the top of Deco 969.  My photo tour is going to start on the front of the building an work counterclockwise around the building with the final view from more of a distance on E. 4th, between Grove and Pecan Streets. 

 

Almost all of the formwork has been removed from the 23rd floor showing the double slab for the bottom of the pool and the main roof deck on the 24th floor.  In the penthouse wing, you can see the rebar in place for the columns on the 27th floor.

deco969-03-05-23-1 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

The view from a little away down Commerce Street shows that a few of the columns have been poured on the 27th floor.  You can tell that this is the top of the building because the rebar that is extending out from the top of the column does not extend a few feet vertically, but now turns horizontally to tie into the main roof slab.  None of the column rebar on the south wall extends above this point.

deco969-03-05-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

The view from E 13th Street gives a little better view of the top of the building.

deco969-03-05-23-5 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

On this next view, I was shooting into the sun, so I stood on the north side of the Young Women's Leadership Academy using the shadow of the building to protect the lens from shooting directly into the sun.  This view shows the form work for the roof, the stair going to serve that level is in place.  Rebar for the main elevator/stair core has been placed for the overrun and stair access to the roof.  You can also see the 24th floor lounge that is set back from the north wall and from the west wall to allow the pool to be built on the roof.  You also see the columns have been extended up to serve as decorative elements for the 25th floor rooftop garden.

deco969-03-05-23-3 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

Finally, this is a view from E. 4th Street between Grove and Pecan.  Here, you can see the elevator overrun forms for the service elevator on the east end of the penthouse wing.  Right now, the building is very close to its final height, and I look forward to see a tree on top of the building marking the building's final structural height very soon.  Note: topping out ceremonies are usually done for the building achieving its greatest structural height.  The lantern and miscellaneous roof screens to hide equipment usually don't count toward the ceremony, but they do count toward the total height of the building. 

deco969-03-05-23-4 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

If you have any questions or comment about the building, now is the time to ask the resident architect.  However, I am not involved with the building, so there is a chance I might not be able to answer the question.  The historic Mt. Gilead Baptist Church is in the foreground.

[Stadtplan]

Except for the power lines in the way, I really like that shot on the other side of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church.

 

I had to refresh my memory on what the rooftop amenity / pool decks looked like according to this rendering.  That's going to be quite the selling point especially considering how many months out of the year in Texas you can enjoy this:

 

[John T Roberts]

I probably should have taken more time to find a better location without the power lines, but I'm also out shooting for Historic Fort Worth's Most Endangered List, to be released on May 3rd.

[John T Roberts]

Nitixope, I moved your post on the Most Endangered List to that thread.

[Stadtplan]

A couple of cool shots from Deco Supt. Darren Lussier:

[John T Roberts]

I'm heading back down there this weekend to take ground level shots.  Since it is near topping out, I'm making sure I photograph every week.

[Austin55]

Im curious what the little narrow outdoor area in Darrens last photo wil be.

[Stadtplan]

I wonder if they plan on having a maintenance scaffolding apparatus on the rooftop?  This makes a nice landing spot for unit but this doesn't seem like the type of building that would fully benefit from that like a curtain wall with lots of window washing involved.  If you look in the first photo from Darren, you can see the reverse angle looking down on that section too, and it is the face neighboring building next door so they don't have the luxury of landing on their rooftop should there be maintenance on that face of the building vs other areas might have the sidewalk or other section to land on.  I'm just speculating.

[John T Roberts]

I have a copy of the last DDRB package at home, so I will look at it tonight. 

[Stadtplan]

Darren posted some interior shots today:

[John T Roberts]

It's nice to see some interior photos.

 

I was out and about the city today (and tomorrow) taking the photographs for the Historic Fort Worth's Public Affairs Committee to review and vote on the 2023 Most Endangered List, and I passed through Downtown.  Since I had both my phone and my camera, I decided to go ahead and take this week's photos.  All of the forms are in place to pour the roof slab.  The service elevator forms extend above the roof, and the main elevator/stair core has some form work and the rebar in place to extend this element above the roof.  I noticed when I was on 9th Street by the Flatiron Building that the rebar for one column is in place on the west wall that extends above the roof line.  I will post these photos a little later today.

 

That roof above the parking garage, next to Winfield Place, and where the building makes the first setback on that side, appears to be full of individual rooftop mechanical units for some of the apartments.  The remainder of the rooftop units will be on the main roof of the building behind the screens that form the offsets at the top of the building.

[John T Roberts]

As of today, Deco 969 is very close to its final overall height.  The main core form work and rebar has been extended up above the roof for the elevator overrun and one column on the west side of the building has the rebar cage extended above the roof.

deco969-03-11-23-1 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

This is a view from down Calhoun Street.

deco969-03-11-23-2 by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

From the northeast, I moved to a slightly different location that eliminates some of the power lines.  You can see the service elevator overrun on the left and the main core elevator overrun on the right.

deco969-03-11-23-3 by jtrobert, on Flickr

[Stadtplan]

From this morning:





Video:
https://i.imgur.com/e4ZRKNq.mp4

[John T Roberts]

Did either Tim or Brian note that it was very close to topping out?

[Austin55]

A couple of drone views from today

 

 

[Stadtplan]

Did either Tim or Brian note that it was very close to topping out?

We were in Brians group. I believe he mentioned it but I was joining up a bit late.

[John T Roberts]

Austin, in your photo from the ground, you can easily see the form work for pouring the parapet around the perimeter of the roof slab.  I'm hoping that I will feel like getting out tomorrow to take my ground photographs.  The building is at a fairly important point in the construction.

[Stadtplan]

I noticed on Darrens lvl 14 walkthrough vidya he posted the other day it is cool how the glass wraps around the round columns on the corner. From all the exterior photos I was wondering what that looks like inside.

[John T Roberts]

That will be a nice unit with the column in the corner and the glass wrapping around it.  Also note, there is a balcony that extends to the west.