Ocean Tower
Unfinished building in South Padre Island, Texas, imploded in 2009
Ocean Tower SPI was an unfinished, 31-story residential skyscraper in South Padre Island, Cameron County, Texas, United States, that was imploded when it was deemed unsafe to remain standing. Construction was halted in May 2008 when cracks formed in the building's supporting columns, and investigations revealed that the core of the skyscraper had sunk by more than 14 inches (360 mm). Though the developers initially vowed to fix the problem, studies discovered that repairs would have been too expensive, and plans for its demolition were announced in September 2009. At the time of its controlled implosion in December 2009 the building weighed 55,000 short tons (50,000 t), and it was the tallest reinforced concrete structure to be demolished in that way. It was nicknamed "Faulty Towers" and "The Leaning Tower of South Padre Island".
Plans
The Ocean Tower project was developed by Coastal Constructors Southwest Ventures, a subsidiary of Zachry Construction. It was designed as a 31-story luxury apartment building featuring 147 residences, a gym, swimming pools, spa, and a media room. The podium of the building was a large parking garage with the homes beginning at 55 feet (17 m) above sea level. The completed building would stand 445 feet (136 m) tall and be one of the tallest structures in the Rio Grande Valley. The building was designed to withstand extreme winds with three massively reinforced core walls.
“Ocean Tower” enters the record as unfinished building in South Padre Island, Texas, imploded in 2009. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ocean, Tower and Unfinished can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ocean Tower” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ocean, Tower and Unfinished provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7076085. Authority coordinates are 26.146, -97.171. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 2009.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ocean Tower”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ocean Tower primary sources, Ocean Tower archive and Ocean research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ocean Tower”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ocean Tower” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.