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Tower Of The Americas




Tower of the Americas is a 228.6 meter (750 Feet ) high observation tower with a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas . Tower of the Americas, designed by San Antonio Architect O'Neil Ford , was built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair, HemisFair '68 .

On August 9 , 1966 , the bid for construction of the tower was let to Lyda-Lott, a joint venture between two general contractors, Darragh & Lyda, Inc. of San Antonio and H. A. Lott, Inc. of Houston, Texas .

The tower was the tallest observation tower in the United States from 1968 to 1996 , when the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower was built.

The tower is located in the middle of HemisFair Park . The tower has an observation deck accessible by elevator for a fee. There is also a lounge and revolving restaurant at the top of the tower providing panoramic views of the city.

An extensive $8 million renovation of the restaurant, lounge and observation decks are now underway by Landry's Restaurants, Inc. The company won the bid for a 15-year lease to manage and operate the property from the City of San Antonio in 2004. Prior to Landry's, Frontier Enterprises (owner of San Antonio-based Jim's Restaurants ) operated the Tower of the Americas' restaurant for more than three decades. Additionally, Landry's is spending another $4 million for ground level attractions at the site. Renovations are scheduled to be completed in June of 2006.


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