There has been some confusion out there about the Omni Hotel’s recent topping out ceremony at 447 feet. The height of the building had been widely reported at 547 feet - this had always been my understanding. So what happened to the other 100 feet?
Omni didn’t actually drop 100 feet. The building was built exactly as it had always been planned from what I have been told. The extra 100 feet was a misinterpretation - as has been explained to me by some architect friends of mine, architects often set the elevation of a building’s first floor to 100 feet, so that they can easily measure above ground and below ground floors without having negative numbers duplicating positive numbers and causing confusion. The 547 foot number that was reported was apparently going off this 100 foot ground floor elevation, not the actual height of the building.
I’m a bit surprised that Omni never made that clear in any of their press relations. Still, 447 ain’t half bad (of course, I’ve never been one who’s particularly cared about making the skyline taller).
Isn’t the omni supposed to have some sort of non occupied glass structure on the top? Could this add the 100 feet?