The RSA Battle House Tower is located in Mobile, Alabama and is Alabama's tallest building.[1] The building is owned by the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA). It is the tallest on the Gulf Coast of the United States outside Houston.[2] It replaces the Shipt Tower in Birmingham as the tallest building in Alabama and the RSA–BankTrust Building as the tallest in Mobile. The building is named for the neighboring Battle House Hotel, which is now part of the tower complex. The Battle House Hotel was restored and renovated as part of the tower project.[2]
Construction
The building began with foundation slab concrete being poured during the weekend of 7 November 2003.[2] The foundation slab is over 7 feet (2.1 m) thick, with just over 5 feet (1.5 m) of it resting below the natural water table of downtown Mobile.[2] The spire, installed by a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter on Saturday, 16 September 2006, brought the building to its finished height of 745 feet (227 m).[3] During construction, five hurricanes affected Mobile, causing delays in the construction of this building: Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan in 2004, as well as Hurricane Cindy, Hurricane Dennis, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.[2]
Facilities
The tower consists of 25 office floors, 3 lobby floors, 4 hotel floors, and 1 service floor, together with 30 elevators and 534,268 square feet (49,635 m2) of column-free floorspace[1] and a total building area of 189,644 sq.ft[4] The lighted crown is visible from 30 miles (48 km) away along Mobile Bay on a clear night.[2]
See also
- List of tallest buildings in Mobile
- List of tallest buildings in Alabama
- List of tallest buildings in the United States
References
- ^ a b c ""Building Specs"". "RSA Battle House Tower website". Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g ""RSA Battle House Tower"". "Emporis". Archived from the original on June 9, 2004. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
- ^ "Helicopter to place crowning point on Alabama's tallest skyscraper." The Press-Register, Mobile, AL. September 15, 2006
- ^ "RSA Battle House Tower". CrediFi. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
