The skyline of Dallas, Texas is perhaps one of the most iconic skylines in the entire United States. Between the colorful glowing orb that tops Reunion Tower, to the diamond-shaped Fountain Place, Dallas’ skyline has been hard to beat. There have been songs written about it, TV show intros filmed with it, and it was even voted the Best International Skyline in a contest run by U.S. Today. Pretty incredible!
And even more incredible? Beck Technology has had a hand, albeit an indirect one, in shaping this internationally acclaimed skyline. Several of our amazing clients have played a major role in helping Dallas’ most iconic buildings become reality. While The Beck Group is one of the more obvious answers, we’ve had clients from across the nation work on the skyscrapers that make up our home base.
At one time the second-tallest building in Dallas, and currently the headquarters for Beck Technology, Thanksgiving Tower was built in 1982 by the renowned Hunt family in the heart of downtown Dallas. In the mid-2010s, downtown Dallas suffered economically, and so did Thanksgiving Tower—it saw its occupancy reduced to fifty-five percent.
Today, that number has shot back up to eighty percent, in large part thanks to our client The Beck Group’s decision to move in. Occupying three entire floors, The Beck Group performed interior and exterior renovations to all of the tower’s lobbies as well as its plaza prior to moving in. They transformed the 1980s-style décor into a light and open space complete with gorgeous art installations. These renovations helped bring in other tenants such as coffee shops and restaurants at the time.
We’ve written extensively about Sundt Construction's involvement with the development of perhaps the most iconic Dallas skyscraper ever, Reunion Tower. Sundt was selected specifically for their mastery of the slip-form technique in their construction projects.
Sundt ultimately built Reunion Tower in record time and set standards for safety and quality. If you’re interested in taking an in-depth look at their hand in creating an internationally recognized landmark, check out the full article.
While Reunion Tower might be Dallas’ most recognizable building, the Bank of America Plaza holds the trophy for Dallas’ tallest building, third tallest in Texas, and fortieth tallest in the United States. The building was originally intended to have a twin which would have served as a hotel, but due to the crash of oil and real estate prices in the mid-eighties, it never became more than a parking lot—which was then transformed into Belo Garden Park.
Austin Commercial, a general contractor based out of Texas, was chosen to make the Bank of America Plaza come to life. The massive scale of the building required an innovative approach to both its retention system and basement wall construction. Austin Commercial also suggested the development of tunnels beneath the street and deployed a mining technique that sheared off two months of construction time from the typical schedule required for street closure.
Fountain Place is striking in its architectural beauty. Designed in the late modernist style as a multi-faceted prism, the building glitters and gleams throughout the day as it reflects the light of the sun. It gets its name from the 172 bubbling fountains at the base of the building. Fountain Place was also built by The Beck Group, then known as HCB Contractors, in 1986. The construction of Fountain Place would go on to become one of The Beck Group’s milestone projects.
We are thrilled to be connected to so many innovative and forward-thinking clients, and we’re beyond excited to continue helping the construction industry to make better decisions earlier and thus achieve more than ever thought possible. Being able to see the work of our clients directly from our office windows is a truly humbling experience. It inspires us to keep creating solutions that allow these feats of architecture and construction to become possible.