Architecture

It's official: USA's new tallest tower clears Oklahoma planning hurdle

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Assuming all goes to plan, the Legends Tower will reach a height of 1,907 ft (581 m)
AO
Assuming all goes to plan, the Legends Tower will reach a height of 1,907 ft (581 m)
AO
The Legends Tower will include three smaller towers reaching a height of 345 ft (105 m)
AO
The Legends Tower will include retail areas and entertainment areas, as well as a hotel
AO
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You could be forgiven for remaining skeptical about whether it will ever be built, but the audacious bid to build the USA's new tallest skyscraper in Oklahoma City reached a major milestone this week. Local officials have now finally met and given it their approval.

Legends Tower was originally conceived as a proposal for the USA's second-tallest skyscraper. Following a positive reception, its designers and developers updated their plans to make it the overall tallest skyscraper in the country.

Assuming all goes to plan, the development will be located on the site of a parking lot near a railroad track and a U-Haul storage facility. It will consist of four towers, the largest of which will reach a height of 1,907 ft (581 m) to honor the year Oklahoma became the USA's 46th state.

This largest tower will be 130 ft (39 m) taller than the USA's current tallest skyscraper, NYC's One World Trade Center, and just behind China's Ping An Finance Center in the world rankings, making it sixth-tallest worldwide. Between all four buildings, they will host residential units and a luxury hotel.

The Legends Tower will include three smaller towers reaching a height of 345 ft (105 m)
AO

Constructing a huge skyscraper in a tornado-prone area with a population of only around 700,000 people seems a head-scratcher – as does how it could possibly make financial sense. According to local newspaper the Oklahoman, Councilperson James Cooper also voiced concerns related to plans for the inclusion of low-income housing.

Notwithstanding these concerns, eight out of nine Oklahoman City council members (not including Cooper) ultimately voted for a needed rezoning so that it could go ahead. In a social media announcement, designer AO says that its request for an "unlimited" height has been approved and that construction is expected to begin later this year.

All that's standing in the way now then is for the US$1.2 billion budget to be raised. On this note, developer Scot Matteson says he has it fully financed. An AO representative told us that the first phase of construction, consisting of the three smaller towers, will begin soon and will be completed in 2026. Construction of the huge tower will then begin and should take around three years.

Source: AO

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9 comments
Unsold
Yeah ... no. Contextually it's a mess. Financially it's a boondoggle. There's PLENTY of ways to regenerate a downtown that are far more engaging than just beig tall. I'd guess someone wants to build this hapless waste at the expense of the taxpayers and then find the side door. Oklahomans are not that gullible. If you're going to build an energized, world class DESTINATION city, you need a long-term sustainable offering, not a "been there/done that." A suggestion would be to define the district functions and use cases, and then solicit presentations from a dozen land planning and landscape architecture firms - working in teams - to come up with some anno 2100 concepts. Make this a sustainability benchmark for the next hundred years. Put some outside the box thought and imagination into this. It's gonna take some truly visionary thinking and team brainstorms... Don't blow the opportunity.
Global
In tornado alley, maybe better to go underground...
Username
The bottom part is one ugly mess.
vince
Crazy. An EF5 would bring it down catastrophically. No 2000 foot tower can withstand 250 to 300 mile winds.
ljaques
Isn't building a super skyscraper in the middle of Tornado Alley kind of dangerous?
veryken
Be like China — build it first, and maybe they’ll get blissfully occupied.
Smokey_Bear
Wow, people are pessimistic, or scared.
I think this is great, were overdue for building our tallest building ever.
Yes a tornado might hit it, but architects & engineers can overcome that.
We still build tall buildings where hurricanes or earthquakes hit, you design for your environment....this is nothing new.
Trylon
Because there are over 1500 wealthy people who will want to pay big bucks for luxury high-rise apartments in Oklahoma. Not NYC. Not LA. Not Chicago. But Oklahoma City. The cost of living is lower than average, but it just doesn't have the cultural, architectural, culinary, etc. amenities and cachet of a true world class metropolis. Not even so much as a single major league sports team. You can move there for altitude bragging rights, but what is there to do? Not to mention a rising risk of earthquakes, some of it thanks to injecting wastewater back into the ground after drilling for oil. Good luck with that.
dcris
Let's see what a class 4 or 5 tornado can do to it.... like during construction? Enough said....phallic symbols are still alive and well apparently.