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By Jesus Mesa
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The continent's future tallest building is one big step closer to being constructed — not in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles — but Oklahoma City, after officials gave the developer the green light to proceed with the project this week.
Dubbed "The Boardwalk at Bricktown," the supertall Legends Tower is set to be built in the Bricktown neighborhood of downtown, with a planned height of 1,907 feet —surpassing the 1,776-foot tall One World Trade Center in New York City by 131 feet. Once built, it would be the sixth tallest building in the world and the tallest in North America.
On Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Council voted 8 to 1 to remove a height restriction and rezone a section of Bricktown to accommodate the building, lifting the height limit from the original plan.
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The entire project, led by developer Scot Matteson, includes three towers totaling around five million square feet. The Legends Tower, the tallest of the three, was originally planned to reach 1,750 feet. In January, developers requested to increase the maximum height to 1,907 feet to honor the year Oklahoma became the nation's 46th state.
"Since then, a lot has changed. The vision has become much larger, and the project has become much more exciting," said Mark Zitzow from civil engineering firm Johnson & Associates to Oklahoma's business newspaper Journal Square.
The new development, designed by California architectural studio AO, will be home to retail, hotel and residential units, as well as a parking structure on the ground floor. There are also plans to add a public observatory and restaurant at the top of the tower.
The project is already fully funded and is being financed privately, according to Matteson.
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With the new zoning approved, construction on the underground and below-grade parking is expected to begin imminently, according to the developers. They also mentioned plans to start work on the first two towers—Ruby and Emerald—later this summer, each reaching 23 stories.
The developers estimate that the smaller towers will be completed within 24 to 30 months. Construction of the 1,907-foot tower is set to begin by 2026 and is expected to be finished by 2030.
Currently, the tallest building in Oklahoma City is the 50-story Devon Energy Center. By comparison, the 134-story Legends Tower's signage alone will reach around 50 stories, according a report by The Oklahoman.
Oklahoma City, with a population of 1,5 million, is about the 20th largest metro area in the country. The city has been on a development tear, with several projects coming in the next few years, including a $1 billion arena to host the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder and various concerts, as well as a $71 million multipurpose stadium for professional sports, which will be built near the Legends Tower downtown.
6/6/24 9:30 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to clarify the name of the architectural firm.
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