Not in New York, but in an unexpected city: will the new tallest skyscraper in the US be built? | Abroad

The new tallest skyscraper in the US would be 1,907 feet or 581 meters high, forty meters higher than One World Trade Center. This would make the building the sixth tallest in the world. The location is striking: Bricktown, an emerging entertainment district in… Oklahoma City. “This bold project will be the tallest building in the country and will span more than 1.2 hectares and house more than 185,000 square meters of residential, hospitality, retail, dining and entertainment,” says developer AO Architects. The complex was baptized ‘The Boardwalk at Bricktown’. It would include hotel and residential towers that “each have their own unique luxury amenities, creating a dynamic urban center for residents and visitors,” the designers said.

The construction project would consist of three towers with a height of more than 100 meters. The fourth tower – tentatively called ‘Legends Tower’ – will be 1,907 feet high (581 meters). Not coincidentally, because 1907 is the year in which Oklahoma was officially recognized as the 46th state of the United States. Just like the current tallest building in the US, One World Trade Center, chose a symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 meters), a reference to the year in which the American Declaration of Independence was signed.

Oklahoma City is also a surprising choice for the Americans for the tallest building in the entire country. “Oklahoma City is undergoing a significant period of growth and transformation, making it well-positioned for large-scale projects like Bricktown,” said Scot Matteson, CEO of property developer Matteson Capital. “We believe this project will be an iconic destination for the city, further driving the expansion and diversification of the growing economy and attracting investment, new businesses and jobs. It is a dynamic environment and we hope that The Boardwalk at Bricktown will become the pride of Oklahoma City.”

The ‘Legends Tower’ would have to tolerate five other taller buildings worldwide. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is still the tallest tower in the world today, with a height of no less than 828 meters. In second place is the Merdeka 118, a 678.9 meter skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Bronze goes to China’s Shanghai Tower, which is 632 meters high. Rounding out the top five are the Abraj Al Bait Tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (601 meters) and the Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen, China (599.1 meters). And then the ‘Legends Tower’ from Oklahoma City? We’ll have to wait and see, because the building permit isn’t there yet. AO Architects and Matteson Capital have applied for a variance from the city that would allow them to build outside current zoning regulations and officially build the nation’s tallest building in Oklahoma City.