Tallest US Tower Eyed in Oklahoma City

A rendering of the Legends Tower. Image courtesy of Matteson Capital and AO

A 5 million-square-foot mixed-use project that would include 1,776 residential units, 185 condominiums, two hotels, retail, restaurants and the tallest skyscraper in the United States is proposed for Oklahoma City.

Developer Matteson Capital and architecture firm AO plan to build three 345-foot-tall towers and an additional supertall 1,907-foot-tall tower at The Boardwalk at Bricktown. The development team had initially filed plans with the city for a 1,750-foot-tall tower that would have made it the second-highest U.S. build behind Lower Manhattan’s 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center.

The development team announced plans late last week to boost the height of the tower and seek a variance for the increase. If approved and built, it would make the skyscraper the fifth tallest in the world. Dubbed Legends Tower, the height of the skyscraper honors the year that Oklahoma became the 46th U.S. state. Similarly, New York’s One World Trade Center is built to commemorate 1776, the year the U.S. declared independence from Great Britain.

However, a city official told the Oklahoma City Free Press that increasing the height of the tower would require rezoning, not just a variance. A rezoning application would have to be submitted to the Planning Commission and ultimately approved by the City Council for a tower of that size to be erected.

Citing the city’s significant period of growth and transformation, Scot Matteson, CEO of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Matteson Capital, said in a prepared statement that Oklahoma City is well-positioned to support large-scale projects like the one the team has envisioned for Bricktown. Matteson said the firm believes the development will become an iconic destination, further driving the expansion and diversification of the city’s growing economy.

The Bricktown Entertainment District is already home to the OKC Thunder’s current arena and the public has voted on a $900 million bond to build the NBA team a new state-of-the-art arena in the area. There will also be a new soccer stadium nearby and a minor league baseball stadium among other attractions.

Mixed-use development

In addition to the four towers, plans for The Boardwalk at Bricktown call for the development of 1,776 residential units, which would feature a mix of workforce, market-rate and luxury apartments. A 480-key Hyatt Dream Hotel will be built within one of the smaller towers and include 85 residential serviced condominiums. The Legends Tower will house a 350-key Hyatt hotel with 100 serviced condominiums. Another 110,000 square feet of space will be dedicated to restaurants, retail and a workforce development center for the community. A boardwalk surrounding a 17,000-square-foot lagoon will also be installed. The project will incorporate several expansive roof decks for both residents and visitors. The top floors of the Legends Tower will include a public observatory, restaurant and bar where visitors can enjoy city views.

In August, the City Council approved a $200 million tax increment financing package for the developers, along with $5.5 million in tax reimbursements on construction taxes for the 4-acre project, according to the Oklahoma City Free Press. At that time, the project was estimated to cost $736 million and be completed by June 2027. New figures and construction timetables have not been released since the proposal to increase the height of Legends Tower was revealed.

Joining Matteson Capital and AO on the project team are development partners ThinkBox and Legends Capital Management. Other team members include Thornton Tomasetti as structural engineers and Johnson & Associates as civil engineers, Hensel Phelps as general contractor. Hotel management companies Hyatt and Dream are also part of the overall team, as is Siemens. The finance team includes BCREM and Global Economic Strategies, the the legal team is headed by Greenberg Traurig.

Matteson has partnered with various real estate firms to develop mixed-use and hospitality projects, including Miami World Center, a roughly 24-acre stretch of high-end residential and commercial development in Miami, as well as the Residences at the Little Nell in Aspen, Colo., Sapphire Towers in San Diego, Calif., and Hotel ICON in Houston.