<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Frost Bank to get dramatic illuminated top

City's newest skyscraper will be lit up Wednesday night

By Shonda Novak

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, January 17, 2004

On Wednesday night, Austin's downtown skyline will get a dose of drama.

The Frost Bank Tower's 99-foot-high glass crown will be illuminated, creating a beacon that will forever change the way downtown looks, whether from an airplane, Interstate 35 or a suburban back yard.

The 515-foot-high Frost Bank Tower, Austin's tallest, already can be seen from more than 10 miles away; even the developer doesn't know how visible it will be once the top is illuminated.

The illuminated top will be flashy by Austin standards: more like downtown Dallas, where the 72-story Bank of America building is outlined at night in glowing green argon lights.

Turan Duda, the lead architect on the Frost Bank building, said he wanted to create a tower with a focal point similar to New York's Chrysler or Empire State buildings.

"We wanted a building that comes to a singular statement at the top, a clear, memorable symbol," Duda said. "That was a missing piece in the skyline."

Cousins Properties Inc., developer of the $142 million building, has invited 600 people to a private party for the lighting event. At 8:15 p.m., from a stage in the marble-floored lobby, a switch will be flipped, turning on 224 high-tech lights with ceramic halide bulbs, as well as 30 spotlights that will illuminate all sides of the building.

The company has commissioned a 6-foot-high ice sculpture of the building for the party and hired a local artist to design a giant ceremonial switch, although Cousins won't say who will get to pull the big handle. (The fake switch won't actually turn on the lights; a computer will do that.)

Cousins has made sure the event goes off without a hitch: It has quietly tested the lights three times in recent weeks, but it has done so at 4 a.m., when only the stray club-goer or night-shift worker would be around to see.

Three years ago, when Duda first met with Tim Hendricks, Cousins' senior vice president of development in Austin, Hendricks made it clear that he wanted to develop more than just a building in his hometown.

As they looked toward the site from the Starbucks on West Fifth Street, Hendricks told Duda that he wanted the building to be a symbol of the city for the next 100 years.

"I told him it's a huge responsibility, and we cannot take it lightly," Hendricks said Friday. "It needs to be a landmark project for Austin. We're not just developing a building; we're creating an image."

Cousins officials won't say how much it will cost to light the tower every night or what the company is spending on the Four Seasons-catered gala. The company is still deciding whether to keep the lights on all night or turn them off in the wee hours.

The building is the first new skyscraper on Congress Avenue in nearly 20 years. A little over 60 percent of its 525,000 square feet is leased to tenants including Frost Bank, Heritage Title Co. and several law firms. The bank will move in early next month.

The city's fastest elevators -- 1,000 feet per minute -- will carry passengers to the penthouse offices in 30 seconds....</font>