02/09/16 11:30am

Scaffolding on the Williams Tower, 2800 Post Oak Blvd., Galleria Area, Houston, 77056

A more senior representative of the Williams Tower’s property management office wrote in yesterday with a correction to Friday’s note about the recent return of the rotating spotlight at the top, after another employee told Swamplot that the beam had been off while a new bulb was being hunted down. In fact, the source tells Swamplot, the entire beacon fixture has been replaced, as part of a redo of the tip of the tower itself.

The current work on the top started in November 2014 and includes the replacement of the “apex roof” (consisting of the sloping panels directly beneath the beacon, and the vertical panels directly below those, above the start of the glass skin). The above photo shows those vertical panels missing late last spring as the swap was underway. The new spotlight turned on in late December, and final touches to the roof should be done by March, if the weather cooperates.

Here’s what the roof looked like back before the work began:

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Spotlight on the Roof
02/05/16 4:15pm

Williams Tower, 2800 Post Oak Blvd., Galleria Area, Houston, 77056

Update (2/9): The entire beacon fixture has been replaced. See this story for details.

The rotating spotlight on top of the 64-story Williams Tower in the Galleria area has been back on for a few weeks, following an autumnal hiatus. According to a representative of the tower’s property management office, the beam stayed dark during difficulties finding the correct kind of bulb for the fixture. A reader sent a report this week from a bedroom window overlooking the Galleria area:

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Twinkle, Twinkle, Giant Bulb
03/11/13 11:55am

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE WILLIAMS TOWER The $412 million sale last week of the Williams Tower seems to have provoked some curiosity in the Houston Chronicle’s Katherine Feser: Pursuing a lead from a retired employee that, were it not for those pesky FAA regulations, the record-breaking 64-story skyscraper would have been even taller, Feser goes into the paper’s archives and finds evidence that the tower’s slab was something to behold, too: “The foundation pour . . . started at midnight Friday and was completed early Saturday night. The contractor, J.A. Jones Co., said it was believed to be the largest continuous pour ever made in Houston — more than 10,000 cubic yards of concrete. There have been larger pours but they have been completed in several stages. The area of the poured mat is 200 feet by 200 feet, almost an acre.” [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Russell Hancock

10/09/09 5:52pm

Note: Story updated below.

A reader writes:

I had been told that the architect of the Transco tower secretly incorporates cat figures in to all of his work. I could never see a cat in the Transco until yesterday evening. I found it! Can you? Pretty cool, huh?

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08/21/07 8:00am

Turnberry Tower Residences at the Galleria Exterior Rendering

This wide headstone, set to rise behind the Galleria Waterwall like a giant radiator grille poached from a 1948 Packard Custom 8, is Houston’s Turnberry Tower. At 34 stories (marked down from 42 threatened previously), it’ll reach just above the groin of the adjacent landmark Williams Tower.

The 184 condominium units inside, which will range from $1 million to $8.5 million, go on sale in two weeks when the 12,000-sf sales center opens. The building is scheduled to be finished by the start of the next decade.

What’ll $8.5 mil get you? One of two 15,000-sf units at the top, each of which boasts four bedrooms and—no, we’re not shitting you—nine-and-a-half bathrooms. Why will residents need so many?

For the entry-level price of $1 million, you’ll have to make do with less than 1800 square feet. But all residences feature private elevators, 10- and 11-foot ceilings, a fireplace to keep you warm on chilly Galleria nights, and terraces with glass railings. The building will have a spa and fitness center, a theater room, social rooms including a tea room and library, and a swimming pool atop the four-story parking garage.

Uncomfortable with the communal parking? Don’t worry: Twenty-five private air-conditioned garages will also be available.

Image: Robert M. Swedroe Architects and Planners