If one developer has their way, it won’t be New York or California that has the highest skyscraper in America but Oklahoma City.
Matteson Capital has been planning out a complex called the Boardwalk at Bricktown in the Oklahoma capital, which was approved by the city council in August, 2023.
The structure would consists of four towers, including three about 345-ft. high, apartments, two hotels, condos and over 100,000 feet of commercial and community space.
With the fourth tower set to be the showpiece, it was originally planned to rise about 1,750 feet; now, developers are increasing that.
That tower would now extend out to 1,907 ft., which would make it the tallest building in the United States.
Currently, the tallest building in the U.S. stands at One World Trade Center at 1,776 ft.
The number—1,907—references the year in which Oklahoma was admitted to the union as the 46th state.
The developers would need the city to re-zone the property in order to achieve that goal, according to the Oklahoma City Free Press.
Matteson Capital plans to submit for that variance, which would make their building the sixth-tallest on earth.
The top five around the world includes the UAE’s Burj Khalifa (2,717 ft.), Merdeka 118 in Malaysia (2,227), China’s Shanghai Tower (2,073), Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia (1,972) and Ping An International Finance Centre, also in China (1,966).
Oklahoma City is considered one of the fastest growing metropolises in the U.S. It came in at 680,000 residents in the 2020 census, making it the 20th most populous city in the nation.
The Bricktown area has become a destination in the city, home to the arena of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder and stadium for minor league baseball’s Oklahoma City Dodgers.
The taxpayers recently voted to fund a new $900 million arena for the Thunder in the Bricktown area.
A city in growth mode
As it stands, the plan for the three-acre site has gained approval for the smaller towers, but is still seeking approval for the supertall tower. Its height puts it well within the supertall range, a category given to skyscrapers with heights between 900 and 2,000 ft. tall.
AO said the height was a response to the city’s growing population. The tallest building in Oklahoma City currently is Devon Tower, which has a height of 844 ft.
“The tower’s height evolved to align with the visionary goals set by both the developer and the city,” AO managing partner Rob Budetti told Dezeen.
“As Oklahoma City experiences a surge in market growth, characterized by increasing demand, population, and the development of employment hubs, the design for The Boardwalk at Bricktown has progressed in response to the dynamic expansion and advancement within this thriving urban landscape.”
Designed for developers of Matteson Capital and Thinkbox, the complex will hold retail and entertainment spaces and the towers will hold apartments, condos and a hotel.
Renderings show three smaller towers flanking a central corridor decked out with storefronts, a mezzanine, water features and light installations, with the supertall skyscraper at the back of the complex.
The supertall skyscraper will be relatively flat with a uniform shape that tapers up slowly towards the structure’s crown.
The skyscraper and the towers will be clad with glass and illuminated at points by strips of light at their corners.
Thornton Tomasetti has been brought on for the structural engineering of the project.
Based outside Los Angeles, the project will be AO’s first foray into supertall skyscrapers.
Other supertall buildings in the works include a 1,388-ft.-tall skyscraper for JPMorgan Chase in New York City by Foster + Partners.
Tornado Alley, smormado shally
If realized, the tallest skyscraper in the U.S. would be located in the epicenter of America’s infamous Tornado Alley. Spring and Fall twisters aren’t just possible in Oklahoma, they’re expected.
And they can be absolute monsters, with hundreds of miles of clear pastures where twisters can grow in size and strength. It’s been long suspected that tornados don’t hit urban areas because the winds wouldn’t penetrate the obstruction from tall buildings.
That theory was disproved in 2000 when a powerful F3 tornado hit downtown Fort Worth, Texas.
The first high-rise building impacted was the nine-story Cash America building, which was nearly destroyed by the tornado. All windows on the building’s northwestern and southwestern faces were blown out by the strong winds, and the travertine stone facade framing the building’s exterior crumbled. Similar damage occurred to several other high-rises including the 35-story Bank One Tower, which lost 80 percent of its 3,000 windows.
Source Stephen M. LePore, Daily Mail; Ben Dreith, Dezeen; WDBO
