Floodgate is a uniquely modern 17-story building with significant ground-floor restaurant space fronting the River Walk and 63 apartment units on the upper tower floors. Designed for a dense urban site, the residential tower employs varying asymmetrical floor plates within three stacked tiers, responding to views from the site and providing optimal sunlight to the River Walk below.
The design acknowledges and reinforces the historic context with contemporary architecture. Sitting between two historic buildings, the Witte Museum and The Esquire Tavern, the east wall was pulled back from the latter building to reveal a 150-year-old textured stone wall incorporated into 15,000 SF of restaurant patio seating. This intervention also leaves space for a paseo, introducing a new walking path to grant greater pedestrian connectivity between the River Walk and adjacent streets.
The lower two levels of the building feature a residential lobby and a two-level restaurant space with outdoor dining along the River Walk. The dimensional constraints of the site drive the automated parking system that can be re-purposed in the future should the technology become obsolete. The need for only two floors of parking for the building allows for a larger amenity deck on level four, which includes various wellness spaces, lounges, and a wraparound patio cantilevered over the River Walk.
