Ever since the Frost Tower project broke ground in March 2017, San Antonio has watched the new glass office building drill its way onto the skyline as the first structure of its size the city has seen in 25 years.
With construction nearly complete, it’s time to move in.
Frost Bank employees began moving into the 24-story building at 111 W. Houston St. on June 10. By July 1, over 2,100 employees will have relocated from the bank’s former headquarters to the first 12 floors of the tower, which was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven, Connecticut, alongside local architectural consultant Alamo Architects.
Construction on some parts of the tower is continuing, said a Frost Bank spokesman, so not all areas of the building are open. He said a grand opening is planned for September or October.
“Moving to our new tower represents a significant milestone honoring our employees, our customers, our shareholders, and our community,” said Candace Wolfshohl, group executive vice president for culture and people development at Frost Bank.
While the building is not yet open to the public, the Frost Bank financial center will open July 1 in the first-floor lobby. The public also will be able to access the “Frost Loft,” on the mezzanine level overlooking the lobby. The loft will feature exhibits and interactive displays about the history of Frost Bank and San Antonio.
Frost Bank sold its current headquarters on 100 W. Houston St., and a 732-space parking garage, to the City, which plans to consolidate its administrative offices there.
In the tower, Frost Bank employees will occupy the second through 12th floors, and the 14th and 15th floors will provide meeting rooms for customer conferences and employee gatherings. The meeting rooms there are named for Texas cities where Frost Bank operates as well as peppers native to the state, Alamo defenders, and renowned members of the San Antonio Spurs.
The remaining floors in the tower, about 150,000 square feet of Class A++ office space, will be occupied by other tenants of the building. Reports indicate that Ernst & Young and staffing company Insight Global will be among the tenants.
The project’s developer, Weston Urban, has plans for a restaurant and retail shops on the street level of the building, which sits alongside the San Pedro Creek Culture Park as well as within the green space of a 1.2-acre park under construction across the street.
The developer also owns the nearby Milam Building, a 1920s-era building that stands 21 stories tall and will become an apartment tower with some office and retail tenants.
Frost Bank’s downtown financial center will close at the end of the day on June 28 and open in the new tower on July 1.
what about the Plaza Club?
GREAT photo, Scott Ball! Practically explains the octagon concept by itself.
The new Frost Bank building looks so “out of place” in San Antonio. Looks more like it belongs in Dallas or Houston. I personally think it “ruins” our skyline. In fact, it is pretty ostentatious in my opinion. Not a huge fan of all the unbridled development currently going on in our city. Our lovely and unique River North (Museum Reach) is a prime example of “overdevelopment”. I have renamed it “River North Cement Canyon”. Yep, we have “paved paradise and put up a parking lot”.
Actually, almost all the “construction” you “mention” was built on parking lots, so I guess you really “love” parking lots! Also, the Museum Reach is only ten years old. You cannot reasonably expect its surroundings to remain unchanged in that time, especially since it originally mostly wound through a desolate light-industrial landscape.
Next criticize the Pearl development for destroying a perfectly good abandoned brewery.
Well San Antonio is a “city” where “people live” and more people are moving “here” every day. We can’t afford not to “grow” and “develop”. I’m sure you would prefer that there still be an “empty” brewery and industrial park sitting on Broadway instead of the world-renowned Pearl that residents and visitors alike can “enjoy”.
I for one really appreciate the new unique touch that this new tower provides to our skyline.
I would have preferred the Pearl Brewery to be making beer instead of the tourist trap it has become.
Matter of time before the Missions “are “developed” now that the Riverwalk has been extended south. I would have preferred the Riverwalk north extension remain a linear green park/area instead of lined with apartment buildings that the majority of residents of the city cannot afford to live in.
I am not against change or development. Being retired from the military I have lived in and out of San Antonio since 1975. I have seen much change. Some good, some not so good. I personally would favor a slower pace of change.
This is the kind of thinking that drives young people out of town and creates brain drain to those other urban centers. Growing vibrant cities are dynamic and full of change. Stagnant cities are places with no future and are where baby boomers are going to die.
“Ruins our skyline” is presicely the stagnant thought process behind WHY this is the first development of its kind in the city in 25 years. I don’t understand the resistance to change. Women’s Suffrage comes to mind.
ostentatious – adj., designed to impress or attract notice
…I sincerely hope so!
I agree. The building looks like it belongs in Las Vegas when it is lit up at night. Cheap and flashy.
People like you are reasons as to why and how cities die. You seem as if you would love unemployment and stagnation of development – to no development at all. Bravo. Way to go. Good for you. Be proud of how narrow minded you have become (or always have been).
It was a real treat for me to get to work on some of the installation of the Frost Loft as I don’t often get to work on local projects. Everyone there has been very excited about the move and the exhibit. I’m also a Frost customer and I hope other customers will enjoy it too.
This is an awesome building and shows how completely out of date some other buildings are in downtown. Now we need to look at how get rid of some of those ugly buildings….
The efforts to make our downtown more relevant and a place to live and work are paying off nicely!
You mean all those beautiful brick and art deco buildings that will never be built again because of the cost? The Grand Hyatt is very blah! But, blame the city for that. Google the original renderings.
The lighting installation has been broken since it was installed. A properly working lighting installation on the exterior of a building can be nice but all the problems with the nonworking exterior lighting on the Frost Tower makes it look bad. This morning it was mostly blue except a few random areas that were green and a major chunk that wasn’t working at all.
Growing. Pains. San Antonio is over 300 years of history and the changes are just part of the history that we will look back on and remember how it all worked out. The current growth of the city needs to include each side of the area not just downtown or the north and west side. The south side is continuing to develop with projects in and around City Base. Remember the naysayers when the realignment was the end of the south side? Remember when the proponents of the AT&T Center on the east side said it would lead to development of the surrounding area? Well, that’s still a Rivard Report waiting to be told.