Great American Tower tiara gets topped out

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati's newest skyscraper, the Great American Tower at Queen City Square, officially becomes the city's tallest building on Tuesday.

The final piece of the signature tiara structure on top of Great American Tower will be put into place at 11 a.m. The keystone of the tiara will make the new skyscraper over 54 stories tall at 665 feet.

The distinctive 13-story tall tiara is a self-supporting structure that sits atop the new tower's 41 stories of offices and retail space.

It's a series of nine interconnected steel arches that form a larger tiara shape atop the skyscraper. At a weight of 300 tons, the steel tiara has 505 individual pieces held together by 2200 specialized bolts.

Construction on the tiara started in late April.

The Great American Tower will become home to 2500 workers at the Great American Financial Group in January 2011.

The $322 million development will have 800,000 square feet of office space that will feature retail space on its street level floors.

The Great American Tower and its tiara are taking away the tallest skyscraper in Cincinnati honors from Carew Tower, which has had that distinction for over a half century.

Events for Tuesday's topping out will start at 10:15 a.m. with officials getting tours of the tiara, followed by the topping out and placement of the keystone at 11 a.m.

Organizers of the topping events say they are 'weather permitting.' Forecasts call for an elevated risk of showers and thunderstorms in Cincinnati late Tuesday morning and in the early afternoon.