McCombs to Transform San Antonio Landmark Into Luxury Community
Almost a century old, the property was the tallest building in San Antonio for 39 years.
McCombs Enterprises, the owner of The Tower Life building, a 31-story historic office building located in San Antonio, Texas, is moving forward with its conversion into Tower Life Residences, a 242-unit luxury apartment community. The conversion project is expected to finish next year.
Upon completion, Tower Life Residences will feature three penthouses that will include wrap-around terraces with San Antonio views. Units will be fitted with smart home technology, custom millwork kitchens, closets, whole-home sound systems and more. Additionally, the developer entered a Public Facility Corporation deal with Bexar County to make half of the apartments affordable.
The rooftop will offer views of the San Antonio skyline. Rendering courtesy of Tower Life Residences 
Originally built in 1929, the building is approaching its 100-year anniversary. Rendering courtesy of Tower Life Residences 
Residences can access the seventh-floor amenity space, which features a working area. Rendering courtesy of Tower Life Residences
Every resident will have access to the seventh-floor amenity space, which will have a library, lounges, bar spaces, working areas and event rooms. There will also be a fitness center with a yoga studio, a 5,000-square-foot rooftop garden, alongside a dog spa and pet area. The property will also feature a river-level retail space.
The project was designed by Front Porch Design Group and Alamo Architects with Jordan Foster Construction and J Jeffers & Co. serving as the general contractors. Located at 310 South St., in San Antonio, Tower Life Residences is 12 miles away from the San Antonio International Airport and has easy access to I-37. The property is also par of the San Antonio River Walk.
The former tallest building in San Antonio
McCombs purchased the property in 2022, with the intent to turn it into a residential building. Some San Antonio residents were wary that the project would change the historic building following the renovations. Design plans have shown that the lobby and exterior of the eight-sided building, which has gothic inspirations and gargoyles, will remain untouched.
The Tower Life Residences building was originally constructed ahead of the Great Depression in 1929 as the Smith-Young Tower. It was designed by architects Robert M. Ayres and Atlee Ayres with a green tile roof and neo-Gothic features, hallmarks of the era. It was not until 1961 that the building’s name was changed to the Tower Life Building.
READ ALSO: How the Nation’s Largest Office-to-Residential Conversion Came to Life
For almost 40 years, the skyscraper was the tallest building in San Antonio, until O’Neil Ford’s Tower of the Americas was built in 1968. Currently, the Tower Life Residences building is the fourth-tallest skyscraper in the city.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Tower Life Residences housed the first Sears store in the city. Later, the building would go undergo modifications that allowed it to house a TV station, an insurance company as well as San Antonio’s transit agency.
San Antonio deliveries slow down
As of March, the metro had 15,601 units currently under construction and had delivered 2,273 at the start of the year, according to a Yardi Matrix report from May. Compared to its historic peak, the multifamily pipeline is slowing down, and the metro is shown to have an additional 9,854 units in the planning and prospective stages, Yardi Matrix shows.
