What would become America's tallest building is a step closer to being built in Oklahoma after developers announced they had acquired the financing needed for the project, according to local reports.
The Boardwalk at Bricktown skyscraper in Oklahoma City is planned to reach a height of 1,907 feet—besting the 1,776-foot One World Trade Center in New York City by 131 feet. If built, it would also become the sixth tallest building in the world.
According to several news outlets in the state, in the past week Matteson Capital acquired the $1.5-billion budget needed to construct the project in the Bricktown district in Downtown Oklahoma City.
"The goal is to start moving dirt by the end of summer, doing the grading and infrastructure on the entire 4 acres of land," developer Scot Matteson told reporters.
Newsweek approached a spokesperson for the project via email on Tuesday.
The tower—one of three proposed on the site—had originally been planned to reach 1,750 feet, but in January the developers asked city authorities to increase the maximum height. AO, the architecture firm designing the building, said this was to reflect the year Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th U.S. state.
The development would span around 5 million square feet in total, and include a hotel, both luxury and affordable residential units, and more than 110,000 square feet of retail space. The top floors of the 134-story so-called "Legends Tower," is intended to contain a public observatory, restaurant and bar.
"Oklahoma City is experiencing a significant period of growth and transformation, making it well-positioned to support large-scale projects like the one envisioned for Bricktown," Matteson said at the time.
"We believe that this development will be an iconic destination for the city, further driving the expansion and diversification of the growing economy, drawing in investment, new businesses, and jobs."
While taller buildings have already been successfully constructed, AO said that the scale of the building would require input from numerous structural engineers, as well as fire and safety experts.
"Managing the intricacies of such a project, ensuring seamless integration of all components, is a significant challenge," AO managing partner Rob Budetti said in January.
However, city authorities have yet to approve the new height of the tower, and could yet frustrate the aims of the developers to construct the tallest building in the U.S.
"The technical part is not the hard part," Norb Delatte, an engineering professor at Oklahoma State University, told The Oklahoman. "It's possible, but why would you do it? It's not how do you make the numbers work from a structural standpoint; it's how do you make the numbers work from an economic standpoint?"
"I'm used to this skepticism by the public and other people, but we have goals," Matteson told KOCO News 5 on Monday. But he added that if the change is not approved, they would press ahead with the original height, which would make the skyscraper the second tallest in America.
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Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
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