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The Tower Life Building is undergoing a major transformation. The conversion from office spaces to mixed-residential units is said to command an investment of around $128 million.
The building has been an unmistakable and omnipresent feature of the San Antonio skyline since 1929. The original Tower Life Building was created by the visionary Smith brothers of Crockett, TX. They partnered with lawyer and business partner J.W. Young to build the tallest building the city had ever known. Until 1968, when the Tower of the Americas was completed, Tower Life had been the tallest building and structure in San Antonio.
Local architectural firm Ayres & Ayres designed the tower, with a brick and terra-cotta octagonal exterior, Ludowici roof tiles, and completed with neo-gothic grotesques, often misnamed as gargoyles, enhancing visual impact on the building’s crown.
The new Tower Life Residences will have 242 apartment units, with 50% of them qualified as "affordable" by the city.
Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert said the project’s qualifications for affordability, considering a 60% Area Median Income (AMI) for rentals, are in the contract.
“People at 60% AMI are folks working at a Best Buy, they’re people working at Bill Miller’s, they’re people who work in your hotels, they’re people who are driving buses," said Calvert.
Calvert said it’s important that we have a mix of places where all income levels can participate.
In 1991, the Tower Life Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Crews with Jordan Foster Construction are leading the redevelopment and are focused on maintaining the building’s historic value while converting the old office space into residential units.
Gabriel Lopez is Director of Business Development at Jordan Foster and said the adaptive reuse process in repurposing existing buildings for new uses while preserving the history is something the company loves to do.
“It absolutely is a labor of love. It has to be. Because you never know what’s gonna happen when you tear open a wall. Especially in a hundred-year-old building.”
The 30-story Tower Life Project has a contract value of over 64 million dollars and is a partnership between McCombs Enterprises, Alamo Architects, Front Porch Design Group, J Jeffers & Co., development partners Ed Cross and Jon Wiegand, and Jordan Foster Construction.
Completion time for renovation of the Tower was originally set for fall of this year, but Lopez said an estimated opening date for the new residences is now March of 2027.
Below are renderings of interior apartments and what future residents can expect to see at Tower Life Residences. Residential units, penthouses, a rooftop garden space, an exclusive amenity floor, and nearly 100 years of age and preservation are a promised part of the living experience.
