Clark Grabs Contract to Construct San Antonio’s Frost Tower

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

San Antonio—Weston Urban, KDC and TRT Holdings Inc. are developing Frost Tower in San Antonio, but someone’s got to build the 440,000-square-foot office structure—and that someone has been identified as Clark Construction. Clark won the contract to construct the trophy property, which is already underway.

Frost Tower in San Antonio

News of Clark’s coming aboard the project emerges just two months after TRT came forward to provide joint venture equity for the endeavor, and roughly two years after the developers completed a rather complex land transfer arrangement with the city, effectively clearing a hurdle to the project’s commencement. It’s a prestigious assignment; Clark is tasked with building what will be the first office structure to rise in downtown San Antonio since 1989.

Upon completion, the 23-story Frost Tower will feature 20,000 square feet of retail space and a 400,000-square-foot wraparound parking facility at its base. The high-rise’s impending impact on the city’s skyline took on a new sense of reality last year with the release of celebrated architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli’s striking design of a 400-foot tall building somewhat suggestive of a loose spiral. Frost Tower will add a shock to San Antonio’s downtown architecture, evoking images of an icy glass cylinder appearing as though it could use its façade of vertical blades and its jagged dome to twist right off the foundation and propel into the stratosphere, leaving behind a blue glow.

In addition to an ethereal hue, the LEED Silver-certified building will bring highly coveted Class AA office space to the San Antonio market. As JLL, the commercial real estate firm heading up leasing of the property, noted in a 2016 report: “Excitement around the development of Frost Tower indicates that interest in trophy space is strong and downtown San Antonio may be on the verge of the urban renewal wave that has revitalized many urban cores across the country.” Frost Bank has already staked a claim to the anchor position, having pre-leased 250,000 square feet for its corporate headquarters.

With Clark at the helm, Frost Tower is on track to reach substantial completion in March 2019.

Image courtesy of Weston Urban