Mystery builder proposes world’s tallest Ferris wheel — in San Antonio?

A proposed 900-foot-tall Ferris wheel in San Antonio would dwarf the London Eye at 443 feet, seen in a file photo here. A proposed 900-foot-tall Ferris wheel in San Antonio would dwarf the London Eye at 443 feet, seen in a file photo here. Photo: ANNE CHALFANT /KRT Photo: ANNE CHALFANT /KRT Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Mystery builder proposes world’s tallest Ferris wheel — in San Antonio? 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

It’s a mystery big enough for the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Federal Aviation Administration received a request from a developer last month to perform an aeronautical study to build the world’s largest Ferris wheel — 900 feet high — on property owned by CPS Energy just south of the Lone Star Brewery in San Antonio, according to the agency’s website.

The request was anonymous. No one in San Antonio seems to know anything about the Ferris wheel, including local politicians, neighborhood leaders and even CPS. The utility put the property up for sale earlier this year but has since pulled it off the market, spokesman Jonathan Tijerina said. It doesn’t have plans to sell it now and doesn’t know who is behind the Ferris wheel, he said.

“We’re not in talks with anybody. We haven’t been approached about the property,” CPS spokeswoman Nora Castro said.

The Ferris wheel’s height is not a typo, FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford confirmed — it really would be 900 feet tall. The agency studies construction that’s tall enough to interfere with local airspace. If the plans are real and it gets built, it would be the tallest building in San Antonio and the tallest Ferris wheel in the world by far — towering over the current record-holder, the 550-foot High Roller in Las Vegas.

It would even put to shame Dubai, the Middle Eastern city known for its outsize architecture, where a 668-foot-tall Ferris wheel is under construction.

It would dominate San Antonio’s skyline. The proposed Ferris wheel would loom 150 feet above San Antonio’s tallest building, the Tower of the Americas, which is 750 feet tall, counting its spire.

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