Don Your Sunglasses For Yet Another Look at New-Look Reunion Tower (The Omni Too)

By Robert Wilonsky Thu., Dec. 29 2011 at 12:11 PM

Categories: Development

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We said it before: Downtown Dallas is starting to look a little like Lil' Las Vegas. The subject spurred a little back-and-forth during a staff dinner last night, during which someone mentioned the story in yesterday's paper about our even more illuminated skyline. Said urban planner Larry Beasley, it's not good or bad, merely "inevitable." Brent Brown, also of CityDesign Studio, noted there's a fine line between standing out and coughing up "visual pollution." Back and forth it went amongst those for and again it, while Park and Rec's second-in-command Willis Winters offered his own theory for the lite-briting of downtown:

"Rather than spend money on architecture, which is expensive, they can light it up at night," he said. "A building that is unremarkable during the day can stand out."

Didn't know till I poked around a little bit that Jack Matthews, builder of the convention center hotel, has a whole YouTube channel devoted to the Omni's Blinding Wall of Light, which right now features the countdown-to-New-Year's clock you'll find on the other side. And ever since Justin Terveen outed Reunion Tower's Christmas tree-ornament redo on Unfair Park a few weeks ago, seems the folks running that operation have gotten a little more brazen about test-patterning those LEDs, as you can see above in a video shot a few weeks back.

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Does anyone remember the strobe lights that spanned the arc on top of what is now Chase Tower (previously Texas Commerce) back in the mid 1980's when the building was new and the lights that shot up the four corners and shot thousands of feet into the air at what is now the Trammel Crow building (previously LTV)? Or how about the magnificent 20 story starburst Christmas decorations that hung from the wrought iron sections facing downtown at The Crescent around the same time?
I think he meant the observation deck, not an overpriced restaurant. The old deck sure was a dump.
Where have you been? It's been revived as a Wolfgang Puck restaurant.
I like the lights on the Omni and Reunion Tower. I wonder what event they are waiting for to have the ball do patterns all the time. I enjoy the buildings lit up. I remember as a kid the Republic Bank building spire had neon lights that would change colors and had a revolving search light on top. The search light is still there but it was only use for about a year in the mid 60's because the pilots at Love Field complained about it. I would love to see if the neon lamps could be fixed or LED lights used to light up the spire again.
Anyone know when we'll be able to go to the top of Reunion Tower again? I really want to take my kids to the top like I used to when I was a kid.
I don't understand this Don't be so pedestrian. Did you mean Don't be "A" pedestrian. We never got out of the car and kept the widows up as well. Thanks for the safety tips .
I thought, pedestrian, is what the "new urbanist" were hoping to implement, no?
Don't be so pedestrian. BTW, the word gaudy comes from the first reactions to Antoni Gaudí's plans for his magnificent Sagrada Família in Barcelona.
Somebody call Vegas and tell them one of their hotels has escaped. GAUDY GAUDY GAUDY And way out of place . Because it invites (SUCKERS ?) folks into a downtown area lacking in the kind of WOW type excitement such a display of lights triggers in ones minds eye. There is no POP there is no WOW . As the lights might suggest. Even you folks who live downtown know what I am talking about .And credit to you for creating a vibrant new neighbor hood . Anybody here remember the surplus 6 foot WW2 search lights that danced in the night sky and would guide us ( and DAD ) to things as children ? Another car dealership or store opening . Never really what we expected or wanted to see. We went we Downtown we saw the hotel lights we drove away. Lots of money is being lost because nobody has figured out to take it .
I like how all it takes is a relamping of the Chase Tower, retrofitting the Reunion Tower and opening the CC Hotel and suddenly everyone whines we're "lil' Las Vegas" Do you people not remember how the Hunt Building had spazzed out lighting for all of 2008?? That thing would give you seizures if you looked at it for longer than 2 seconds! Its about time they updated the 40 year old lighting on the Reunion Tower. I'm all for nostalgia, but lets all agree the old lights sucked; half of them were out of sequence and you could never really make out the pattern & shapes it was trying to make.
I think this lighting could cause seizures!
Well, I seem to have been wrong. Thank you, Bob.
So, ok, what are they "test patterning" the ball for? Love Field? Homeland Security? How long must you "test pattern" for....months?? Someone needs to let the good folks who haven't grown out of their Lite Brite phase know that..."with refills you can even build Bugs Bunny and Bozo The Clown." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soFXG2FaONw
WRONG. Myrna is right. If you want to see tacky, go to Frisco. If you want to see excitement, go to downtown Dallas.
Nah, it's tacky...but I suppose, Dallas, tacky is WONDERFUL
wasn't a fan of the hotel, but I give them big kudos on the artist selection. Has anyone been down to have drinks at the bar? How is that?
It's wonderful, not tacky. The lights give you feel of excitement as you enter the downtown area for a night out.
An out of town friend stayed at the Omni over Christmas vacation and I got to see the hotel from the inside out. The outside lighting is not really visible inside the rooms, unless you count the reflected glow from nearby buildings such as the Maceo Smith Office Building across the street. On the concave side of the boomerang, you can see the light from the opposite end of the building sort of on the periphery, but neither one is really a distraction. My friend, who is from Dallas originally, but who has lived in Chicago for many years, travels a lot on business and stays in hotels ranging from "convention hotels" to "upscale hotels", and he was impressed by the Omni, both visually and in terms of service. He really liked the fact that a great deal of the art work in the rooms and the public areas was created by Dallas artists, and depicts Dallas themes and scenes.
I wonder what it's like in one of those rooms at night, with the giant LEDs flashing into the wee hours. Anybody experienced this yet?
I wonder how many "what the fuck is that?" wrecks that the Omni Wall of Light has caused on 35? Its really hard to keep your eyes on the road the first time you see that big bastard blinking off to the side.