MannyIsGod
06-11-2006, 10:35 PM
I'm kinda eager to go check things out. I never ate at the previous restaraunt but I'd like to try the new one.
Tower of the Americas will be back next week after $11 million makeover
Web Posted: 06/11/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Meena Thiruvengadam
Express-News Business Writer As with many other San Antonians, the Tower of the Americas has a special place in Manny Ortiz's heart.
"I was 16 when it first opened," the native San Antonian said, looking up at the tower from a construction area below. "This is where I brought one of my first dates."
Now, as general manager of the tower's new restaurant, Ortiz is part of the team preparing the landmark to be reborn as a premier tourist destination.
Since closing last May, the tower has received an $11 million makeover in which concrete and steel has given way to granite, mahogany and frosted glass, replacing a dated atmosphere with a sleek, modern feel.
The tower, now operated by Houston-based Landry's Restaurants Inc., is set to reopen the evening of June 21.
"We want to return the tower to the glory it had in 1968," Ortiz said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/D_IMAGE.10b4d1f7e53.93.88.fa.d0.731232ea.jpg John Davenport/Express-News
Joe Schlein of Sendero Electric Sign Co. supervises work on new signs for the revamped Tower of the Americas. The tower will have new eateries, a gift shop and a four-dimensional ride that will give visitors a simulated helicopter tour of Texas.
In its first year of business, the Tower of the Americas, constructed for the World's Fair in 1968, attracted more than 2.1 million visitors and generated more than $1.7 million in net revenue.
"Everybody wanted to go up to the top and see the city," said architect Boone Powell, who worked on the original construction and the recent remodeling.
But by the 1980s, the tower was known more for its elevator stoppages, dirty windows, power failures and design flaws than its food and entertainment. Attendance had dropped to between 600,000 and 700,000, and annual net revenue to the $200,000 to $300,000 range.
Tower of the Americas reopensQuick Facts: Tower of the Americas (http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA061106.tower.6e2408a6.html)
Slide Show: Tower of the Americas, picture gallery of a San Antonio landmark (javascript:;)
Slide Show: Historic Photos of the Tower (javascript:;)
Flash animation: Tower of the Americas improvements (http://www2.mysanantonio.com/news/graphics/tower_flash/Tower.html)
From October 2003 through May 2005, when the tower closed for renovations, fewer than 438,000 people visited the tower's observation deck and about 175,000 visited its restaurant, according to the city's Parks and Recreation Department, which tracks tower visits based on payments for elevator rides.
Powell attributes the losses partly to waning interest among locals.
"The tower has gone through a period of unevenness in terms of food preparation. It's not easy to do the finest job up there," he said. "That's kept it from being truly popular among locals."
Tower Foods, headed by Jim's restaurant founder Jim Hasslocher, had operated the revolving restaurant since 1968. It's menu of mostly fish and steaks was more upscale than the menus at its 24-hour Jim's locations, but it still wasn't able to gain a fan base among locals.
Landry's, the country's second-largest operator of casual dining restaurants, won the contract to operate the restaurant last year.
"I went to the tower in 1968 when Hemisfair opened up," Landry's Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "To me it's always been one of the great icons of Texas. For Landry's and myself to be a part of its second coming is truly amazing."
City Council members unanimously voted for the switch to Landry's because they wanted to see the outdated tower ushered into an era of modernity, something the company would have more money to do.
As part of the deal to operate the tower until 2019, Landry's agreed to invest at least $9 million into upgrading the tower. The city had agreed to provide an additional $2.1 million for renovations.
Under the contract, Landry's will operate not only the restaurant, but also the observation deck and amenities being added to its base.
It will be allowed to charge adults up to $4, seniors $3 and children younger than 12, $2 to visit the observation deck. It can charge up to $7.95 for tickets on a ride being added to the tower's base and between $5 and $10 for parking.
After the first year, the company would be allowed to raise observation deck and parking prices by no more than $1. It would then have the option to raise prices up to $1 every two years.
So far, Landry's has spent about $11 million on restoring, cleaning and renovating the tower: about $4 million to $5 million for a four-dimensional theater to house a theme park-like ride, $2 million on restaurant and kitchen facilities, $2 million on expanding the base of the tower, $1 million on signage and landscaping, and another $1 million on upgrades to the observation deck.
"The last few years the tower was just there,"Fertitta said. "Now, I think it's going to be a tourist attraction you've got to see in and of itself."
About 200 of the estimated 250 employees it will take to operate the tower and its restaurant have already been hired.
The company has built stylish new handicapped-accessible bathrooms with frosted glass doors, restored original art pieces, added parking, repaired cracked concrete, and replaced thousands of light bulbs and hundreds of windows.
Institutional-looking concrete and steel décor has given way to elegant granite, mahogany, Texas mesquite and Hill Country-mined honey calcite. Walls have been knocked down, staircases moved and seating reconfigured to maximize views from the 750-foot structure.
On the observation deck, vertical metal pieces, similar to burglar bars, have been replaced by tinted glass paneling and discreet horizontal bars.
"We picked the best ideas from the other towers we've seen and put them into something that works for us," said Jeff Cantwell, Landry's senior vice president of development.
The company is promising its restaurant, dubbed Eyes Over Texas, will be a first-class fine dining venue. With seating for 250, the restaurant, reminiscent of one located in a tower in downtown Dallas, will feature seasonally changing lunch and dinner menus with cuisine Cantwell describes as "continental with a Texas twist."
Landry's has hired a displaced New Orleans chef, whose restaurant closed after Hurricane Katrina, to direct its one-of-a-kind menu, which will feature pastas, steaks and seafood. Prices for dinner entrees will start at about $22.
"We're really trying to give this place the feeling it needs," Cantwell said. "This is a historic landmark and an icon for the city, but we feel like it's just been underutilized in the last 30 years."
City Councilman Roger O. Flores, whose district includes HemisFair Park, believes many San Antonians have simply forgotten about the area.
"When the tower reopens," he said, "it'll remind people just how wonderful the park is."
Cantwell hopes the remodeled tower will be a catalyst for the redevelopment of HemisFair Park.
"This should be a gathering spot for the city of San Antonio," he said. He envisions a place where locals and tourists alike kick back to listen to live music, stop in for quick lunches and spend hours learning about Texas history.
To help that vision become a reality, Landry's has expanded the tower's base by 13,000 square feet to about 20,000 square feet, replacing uncoordinated, piecemeal additions with one unified structure housing a casual café, a 1,500-square-foot gift shop and a four-dimensional ride that will give visitors a simulated helicopter tour of Texas.
"I know I'm biased, but this ride is on par with anything you might find at Disney or in Vegas," Cantwell said.
Architect Powell said he's impressed with what Landry's has done to the icon he helped construct in the late 1960s.
"They've done a remarkable job," he said of the tower's largest renovation project ever. "I look forward to the reopening"
Tower of the Americas will be back next week after $11 million makeover
Web Posted: 06/11/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Meena Thiruvengadam
Express-News Business Writer As with many other San Antonians, the Tower of the Americas has a special place in Manny Ortiz's heart.
"I was 16 when it first opened," the native San Antonian said, looking up at the tower from a construction area below. "This is where I brought one of my first dates."
Now, as general manager of the tower's new restaurant, Ortiz is part of the team preparing the landmark to be reborn as a premier tourist destination.
Since closing last May, the tower has received an $11 million makeover in which concrete and steel has given way to granite, mahogany and frosted glass, replacing a dated atmosphere with a sleek, modern feel.
The tower, now operated by Houston-based Landry's Restaurants Inc., is set to reopen the evening of June 21.
"We want to return the tower to the glory it had in 1968," Ortiz said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/D_IMAGE.10b4d1f7e53.93.88.fa.d0.731232ea.jpg John Davenport/Express-News
Joe Schlein of Sendero Electric Sign Co. supervises work on new signs for the revamped Tower of the Americas. The tower will have new eateries, a gift shop and a four-dimensional ride that will give visitors a simulated helicopter tour of Texas.
In its first year of business, the Tower of the Americas, constructed for the World's Fair in 1968, attracted more than 2.1 million visitors and generated more than $1.7 million in net revenue.
"Everybody wanted to go up to the top and see the city," said architect Boone Powell, who worked on the original construction and the recent remodeling.
But by the 1980s, the tower was known more for its elevator stoppages, dirty windows, power failures and design flaws than its food and entertainment. Attendance had dropped to between 600,000 and 700,000, and annual net revenue to the $200,000 to $300,000 range.
Tower of the Americas reopensQuick Facts: Tower of the Americas (http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA061106.tower.6e2408a6.html)
Slide Show: Tower of the Americas, picture gallery of a San Antonio landmark (javascript:;)
Slide Show: Historic Photos of the Tower (javascript:;)
Flash animation: Tower of the Americas improvements (http://www2.mysanantonio.com/news/graphics/tower_flash/Tower.html)
From October 2003 through May 2005, when the tower closed for renovations, fewer than 438,000 people visited the tower's observation deck and about 175,000 visited its restaurant, according to the city's Parks and Recreation Department, which tracks tower visits based on payments for elevator rides.
Powell attributes the losses partly to waning interest among locals.
"The tower has gone through a period of unevenness in terms of food preparation. It's not easy to do the finest job up there," he said. "That's kept it from being truly popular among locals."
Tower Foods, headed by Jim's restaurant founder Jim Hasslocher, had operated the revolving restaurant since 1968. It's menu of mostly fish and steaks was more upscale than the menus at its 24-hour Jim's locations, but it still wasn't able to gain a fan base among locals.
Landry's, the country's second-largest operator of casual dining restaurants, won the contract to operate the restaurant last year.
"I went to the tower in 1968 when Hemisfair opened up," Landry's Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "To me it's always been one of the great icons of Texas. For Landry's and myself to be a part of its second coming is truly amazing."
City Council members unanimously voted for the switch to Landry's because they wanted to see the outdated tower ushered into an era of modernity, something the company would have more money to do.
As part of the deal to operate the tower until 2019, Landry's agreed to invest at least $9 million into upgrading the tower. The city had agreed to provide an additional $2.1 million for renovations.
Under the contract, Landry's will operate not only the restaurant, but also the observation deck and amenities being added to its base.
It will be allowed to charge adults up to $4, seniors $3 and children younger than 12, $2 to visit the observation deck. It can charge up to $7.95 for tickets on a ride being added to the tower's base and between $5 and $10 for parking.
After the first year, the company would be allowed to raise observation deck and parking prices by no more than $1. It would then have the option to raise prices up to $1 every two years.
So far, Landry's has spent about $11 million on restoring, cleaning and renovating the tower: about $4 million to $5 million for a four-dimensional theater to house a theme park-like ride, $2 million on restaurant and kitchen facilities, $2 million on expanding the base of the tower, $1 million on signage and landscaping, and another $1 million on upgrades to the observation deck.
"The last few years the tower was just there,"Fertitta said. "Now, I think it's going to be a tourist attraction you've got to see in and of itself."
About 200 of the estimated 250 employees it will take to operate the tower and its restaurant have already been hired.
The company has built stylish new handicapped-accessible bathrooms with frosted glass doors, restored original art pieces, added parking, repaired cracked concrete, and replaced thousands of light bulbs and hundreds of windows.
Institutional-looking concrete and steel décor has given way to elegant granite, mahogany, Texas mesquite and Hill Country-mined honey calcite. Walls have been knocked down, staircases moved and seating reconfigured to maximize views from the 750-foot structure.
On the observation deck, vertical metal pieces, similar to burglar bars, have been replaced by tinted glass paneling and discreet horizontal bars.
"We picked the best ideas from the other towers we've seen and put them into something that works for us," said Jeff Cantwell, Landry's senior vice president of development.
The company is promising its restaurant, dubbed Eyes Over Texas, will be a first-class fine dining venue. With seating for 250, the restaurant, reminiscent of one located in a tower in downtown Dallas, will feature seasonally changing lunch and dinner menus with cuisine Cantwell describes as "continental with a Texas twist."
Landry's has hired a displaced New Orleans chef, whose restaurant closed after Hurricane Katrina, to direct its one-of-a-kind menu, which will feature pastas, steaks and seafood. Prices for dinner entrees will start at about $22.
"We're really trying to give this place the feeling it needs," Cantwell said. "This is a historic landmark and an icon for the city, but we feel like it's just been underutilized in the last 30 years."
City Councilman Roger O. Flores, whose district includes HemisFair Park, believes many San Antonians have simply forgotten about the area.
"When the tower reopens," he said, "it'll remind people just how wonderful the park is."
Cantwell hopes the remodeled tower will be a catalyst for the redevelopment of HemisFair Park.
"This should be a gathering spot for the city of San Antonio," he said. He envisions a place where locals and tourists alike kick back to listen to live music, stop in for quick lunches and spend hours learning about Texas history.
To help that vision become a reality, Landry's has expanded the tower's base by 13,000 square feet to about 20,000 square feet, replacing uncoordinated, piecemeal additions with one unified structure housing a casual café, a 1,500-square-foot gift shop and a four-dimensional ride that will give visitors a simulated helicopter tour of Texas.
"I know I'm biased, but this ride is on par with anything you might find at Disney or in Vegas," Cantwell said.
Architect Powell said he's impressed with what Landry's has done to the icon he helped construct in the late 1960s.
"They've done a remarkable job," he said of the tower's largest renovation project ever. "I look forward to the reopening"