Cost too much money? We're spending 75 million on a 5 story building, yet a limestone wall 4ft high is "too expensive"?
Classic case of K-State0!
Yeah, and like surely they'll just do something like a 2" thick facade am I right? Seems like weight/footing/cost in the grand scheme of things wouldn't be all that outrageous.
In reality the think veneers are not that much less costly, and they have a lot more durability issues than 4" veneer. I would expect that if done right, the wall would be a 4" veneer on both sides as is the wall along Bluemont, with or without a 4" CMU backup core. They could very well just do 8" backup block with a 4" veneer though, and that would be cheaper.
As I said, by the time you do the footings, the wall, the cut stone cap, and possibly a metal rail along the top, the costs really add up considering it is going to be 1200' to 1300' long give or take. Even if it was just a cast veneer stone (which we don't want) the veneer alone would be around $110k for one side 5' tall.