Developer Plans To Build The Country's Second-Tallest Tower In Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City could become home to the second-tallest building in the country, The Oklahoman reported.
California developer Scot Matteson is behind the plans for Boardwalk at Bricktown, which consists of a 1,750-foot-tall, 134-story apartment skyscraper and two other apartment towers. If his vision is realized, it will be just shy of the 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center in New York City.
The project is still in the planning phase and hasn't been submitted for approval, although the city council has approved $200M in tax increment financing. In addition to the skyscraper with 1,528 units and twin apartment towers, it would feature restaurants, shops and a Hyatt Dream Hotel with 480 rooms and 85 condo units. The hotel would be a 22-story tower on top of a parking garage.
The twin apartment towers would stand 23 stories tall and would be built on top of another upcoming parking garage and retail space. Matteson told The Oklahoman that 140 workforce housing units and a workforce development center are also in the plans. These towers are slated to have 576 market-rate units, and Matteson is considering building a third residential tower with 48 affordable units.
Construction would take place in phases. The first phase, which Matteson aims to break ground on next year, would consist of two parking garages, the hotel and the twin apartment towers. Tax increment financing of $200M would be paid after the apartments are finished, according to The Oklahoman.
There is no set timeline for the 1,750-foot skyscraper's development, and the project could be scaled down depending on demand and financing, Kenton Tsoodle, CEO and president of The Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City, told KFOR Channel 4.
Matteson said he and investors decided to expand the project when the likelihood of the city building a new arena close by came to fruition. The arena was approved last Tuesday and will replace the Cox Convention Center. The $900M arena was contingent on the Thunder, OKC's basketball team, signing a 25-year lease, keeping the team in the area. Based on the agreement, the center would have to be ready by the 2028 season.
"We started thinking about the OKC Thunder and spending a billion dollars, and we are going to have a billion dollars going into our design. We are going to have two big projects going on within two blocks of each other," Matteson told The Oklahoman. "Option A is we build what we’re already approved for. But Option B is with all these things going on with a downtown entertainment district, let’s see what we can do."
Matteson is expected to file full renderings and plans for the development later this month. He said he is interested in OKC because of its low unemployment rate, rising wages, booming construction and growing population.
