Bicsa Financial Center, first named Ice Tower, then Star Bay Tower, is a 66- story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

Avenida Balboa Avenida Balboa is a road in Panama City, Panama. It is named after Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, It is approximately 3.5 km long and is located along the Pacific Ocean, making it one of the biggest attractions for real estate development in the cit ...

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. Standing tall, it is the third tallest building in

and fourth in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. Bicsa Financial Center is also known for its distinctive glass colour (gold).

History

Ice Tower

Ice Tower was a

supertall skyscraper A supertall building is an occupied "supertall" structure higher than and beneath . A form of skyscraper, it falls midway between a common minimum definition of "skyscraper" (a building taller ) and a " megatall" building (taller than ). Diff ...

project in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, which was cancelled in 2007. The planned height of the building was , which would have 104 floors, increased from the original proposal of 80 floors . In March 2007, excavations began for the construction of the foundation of the building. However, three months later, in June 2007, the project was cancelled. Ice is the third cancelled

project in Panama City after the

Torre Generali The Torre Generali was a proposed supertall located in Panama City of Panama. If it had been built, the tower would have stood tall, contain 52 Storey, floors, and be completed in 2003. It also would have been the tallest tower in Latin America a ...

(cancelled in 2001) and the

Palacio de la Bahía The Palacio de la Bahia Hotel & Tower was a tall supertall skyscraper planned for construction at Ave. Balboa, Ave. México, 29 Este y 30 Este, The Exposition in Panama City, Panama. Construction was to have begun on 28 July 2006, for completion ...

. * Type: Mixed use * Height (to roof): * Floor Count: 104 * No. of elevators: 8 * Developer: Quality Investment * Architect: Pinzón Lozano & Asociados Arquitectos In 2007, after the installation of steel reinforcement in the foundation, the Ice Tower project was halted. In order to prevent corrosion of the steel girders and be able to reuse the foundation, it was concreted. The works were done on Sunday in order to have the necessary machinery and manpower.

Star Bay Tower

In May 2008, the works were resumed. The project was then renamed to 'Star Bay Tower' named after a developing company, Star Bay Group. In the early morning of 6 May 2009, the main

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

has collapsed. The incident has damaged parts of the adjacent sidewalk and roadway and caused interferences in the water supply. The analysis made by the Panama Ministry of Public Works revealed that the retaining wall has some structural deficiencies, which made it weak and vulnerable to any

hydrostatic load Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body "fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an imme ...

. Later that month,

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

announced that they would occupy 27 floors of the building. On 10 October 2012 fire broke out in the garage of the building. The fire was extinguished in 23 hours by approximately 200 firefighters. After the incident, Banco Internacional de Costa Rica (BICSA) had rented some of the offices in the Star Bay Tower, which was the main reason why the projected received its current name. In 2013, the building was completed. The official opening took place in September of the same year.

Gallery

References

{{Panama City Skyscrapers in Panama City Skyscraper office buildings Skyscraper hotels Residential skyscrapers in Panama City Office buildings completed in 2013

History

Ice Tower

Star Bay Tower

Gallery

See also

References