Tallest Skyscraper in the US Proposed for Oklahoma City

When plans for The Boardwalk at Bricktown were revealed last month, the proposed tower was 1,750 feet (533m) — extremely tall by Oklahoma City standards but 26 feet shorter than One World Trade Center, the 1,776-foot (541m) tall skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. Apparently, second-tallest in the United States is not enough for the developer and architect, both from California, as a few days ago the team issued a press release indicating they are seeking a variance to build a tower 1,907 feet (581m) tall, which would make it the tallest building in the US and the sixth tallest internationally, behind five Asian supertalls. Why 1,907 feet? Just as Daniel Libeskind gave the tower he named Freedom Tower a symbolic height (1776=Declaration of Independence), 1906 is the year Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th state.

The announcement raises two obvious questions: Why is a such a tall tower being built in Oklahoma City (OKC)? And will it actually happen? In regards to the first, the primarily residential tower is just one piece of a proposed, roughly 5-million-square-foot (464,500-m²) development that would be sited across the street from both the existing Paycom Center, the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder, a professional basketball team, and the potential site for the team's new stadium, which OKC voters agreed last month to spend at least $900 million on and have completed by the 2029/30 season. The 134-story tower, as proposed last month, would be in the Boardwalk development's second phase, coming after the construction of a podium with smaller towers containing hotels, apartments, and retail.

Given the tower being a second-phase element, and given that the current zoning for the site allows a maximum height of just 300 feet, a 1,907-foot-tall tower in downtown OKC is far from a sure thing. While developer and architect have issued a press release, they have not yet submitted the application for either a zoning variance or rezoning, so it remains to be seen if the tallest tower in the US being built in Oklahoma is just a publicity stunt, or if the team will be able to follow through on their dream. Still, if it happens, the tower would be more than twice as tall as the 50-story Devon Tower, the 844-foot (257m) skyscraper that is currently the city's tallest.