The highest skyscraper in the US has secured funding and might start construction as early as September 2024. But it is not in New York City, where most of the country’s tall buildings are: Rather, the Legends Tower will be located in Oklahoma City.

The highest skyscraper in the US has secured funding and might start construction as early as September 2024. But it is not in New York City, where most of the country’s tall buildings are: Rather, the Legends Tower will be located in Oklahoma City.

If everything goes well, the proposed Legends Tower in Oklahoma City will start construction in September 2024. Funding has been secured, according to developer Scot Matteson. The Legends Tower would be a supertall skyscraper, designed by Californian architecture studio AO. Matteson has secured 1.6 billion USD (1.52 billion euro) to build the skyscraper and three smaller towers around it. Collectively, the structure is known as the Boardwalk at Bricktown.

If completed, the highest skyscraper in the world will rise 1,907 feet or 581 metres in the air. This would make it the tallest building in the United States and the fifth tallest in the world. Oklahoma City, known for its cowboy culture and wealth of museums, is hoping to attract tourism and further investments with this skyscraper and its surrounding development.

Glass with strips of light

The Legends Tower has funding. It will now need a grading and infrastructure permit, followed by a building permit in September. If these are granted, construction can start. The real estate and investment firm Matteson Capital has partnered with local construction consultants Thinkbox and engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti. AO from California have designed the 134-story building. Its height of 1,907 feet is conceived as a reference to Oklahoma’s admission to the Union of the USA in 1907. The States’ highest skyscraper would be the centrepiece of the planned mixed-use development The Boardwalk at Bricktown, also designed by AO.

If it is built, Legends Tower would become the tallest building in the United States, surpassing the One World Trade Center in New York City, which is currently the country’s highest building at 1,776 feet (541 metres). It would also more than double the height of Oklahoma City’s current tallest building, the 50-story Devon Energy Center. The supertall skyscraper, positioned at the back of the new complex, would have a flat, uniform shape that gradually tapers toward the top. Both the Legends Tower and the surrounding towers are designed to be glass with strips of light at their corners as accents.

Zoning negotiations

The plans for Legends Tower first emerged in December 2023, four months after Matteson Capital and AO first proposed The Boardwalk at Bricktown to the Oklahoma City Council. Originally, the tower was supposed to be 1,750 feet (540 metres) tall, making it the second-tallest building in the United States. But a revised plan for The Boardwalk at Bricktown in January 2024 included the increased height. Scot Matteson, CEO of Matteson Capital, said that the development wants to capitalise on the growth of Oklahoma City: “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. It’s a dynamic environment and we hope to see The Boardwalk at Bricktown stand as the pride of Oklahoma City.”

Current zoning rules in the area only allow for a maximum building height of 300 feet (91 metres). Building the Legends Tower would therefore require zoning negotiations. Matteson and AO had already negotiated an exception to the rule for their original proposal. At the moment, the Legends Tower still awaits approval from both the city council and the Federal Aviation Administration.

A dynamic urban hub

The ultra-modern, sleek tower is planned as a mixed-use building with hotel, residential, and retail functions. These would include a Hyatt hotel, almost 1,800 flats, and 10,000 square metres of retail stores and restaurants. On the top floor of the highest skyscraper, AO are planning a restaurant and observation deck with views of the city.

The surrounding mixed-use development Boardwalk at Bricktown complex would cover 3 acres (12,140 m²). It will include three additional buildings of 345 feet (105 metres) each, another Hyatt hotel, more retail and restaurant space, open plazas, parking garages, an artificial lagoon, and a new arena for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. Designed as a vibrant entertainment district, The Boardwalk at Bricktown will be a bold development and, in the words of AO, a “dynamic urban hub for tenants and visitors. Dining, retails, and open plazas elevate and energize the streetscape, forging interaction, connection and inviting the world to experience the best OKC has to offer. A catalyst for urban evolution, The Boardwalk embodies the spirited essence of Oklahoma City, honoring its rich past, dynamic present, and promising future.”

One of many towering structures

Reactions to the Legends Tower and the surrounding environment have been mixed, with critics pointing to infeasibility, citing zoning challenges, high interest rates, and the challenge of tornadoes, which often happen in Oklahoma. Given the city’s population of 694,000 people and its lack of density, there is a worry that the development will be an outlier.

The project would certainly make the skyline of Oklahoma much more distinctive and attract tourism, if only to take a picture of the highest skyscraper in the US. Currently, the site where the Legends Tower might be built is a parking lot. The smaller towers have already secured approval and will likely start sprouting soon. This comes among other towering structures in the works across the US, such as a 1,388-foot-tall skyscraper for JPMorgan Chase in New York City by Foster + Partners.

Read more: For G+L, we listed the world’s tallest buildings, a record that is still being held by the Burj Khalifa (828 metres).