That’s what I was saying at first too, but I think he’s right. Look at Skyhouse Raleigh for example.
For residential with concrete framing, mechanical is often encased in a bulkhead to one side of the apartment, so all you have is the thickness of the concrete slab. There’s no continuous plenum. The concrete slab is probably no more than 7-8" on top of 9-10’ ceilings.
University Tower is still the tallest in Durham, though a lot of that has to do with its enormous spire. As far as roof height, the new downtown tower might be taller.
I’m in San Diego now and count around 20-something 25+ story tower currently under construction and we can barely squeeze one out every 8 years or so lol.
Easier said than done. Hard to build a tower with little to no tenants of any significant size willing to sign a lease in order to kick the project off… hardly any bank out there these days will do a 100% speculative development
Unless your John Kane of course…
My company is in the market for approx 10-12k sqf office space and even considering new construction that hasn’t broken ground yet (2 Glenwood, the new tower(s) in North Hills, etc) we’re told there is basically no space available. The commercial real estate market in DTR is not speculative development (according to our agent and another source I’ve checked with). There are companies that need space now, there just may not be companies willing to commit to a lease that won’t start for another 2 years.
Easier said than done, but just break ground/build it, this market will fill the space very quickly, banks need to understand, this is NOT, a city on the decline, this is a top 5 hottest market city that is booming with growth and for years to come, there is office space demand NOW.
Looking back at the discussion and feet per slab, etc…judging by the mans height, I would guess those slabs are more like 18" thick. I don’t know if they will be thinner once they get to the residential floors but that would likely add 10 to 15 feet more if they stay the same.
More please…
I NEED MORE!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh 
I can assure you that the slabs are not 18" thick. I own two condos in concrete buildings and both of them are built with about 7" slab floors.
I mean looking at that picture, those slabs are thicker than 7"
Maybe because the first floors are commercial.
At the Peace (Smokey Hollow) building, the concrete slabs are the top of the in-place cast concrete beams. High-tension steel (in a green covering) is put into place then forms are built and filled with concrete. Somewhat like this…
The guy working in that picture must be 2’4" tall then.
So the slab is thinner then the beam? Which makes the photo above deceptive?
A ribbed or waffle slab construction might yield a depth of 18 inches, but the conditions for those types are not present. In other words, those types of slabs are used when soil conditions or unstable or if use is causes vibrations. There may be something special about the floor in question that has caused the slab to be deeper, but I highly doubt that that condition and solution would persist through the building.
The beam and slab are one pour with the slab being the top x” of the monolith.
