OKLAHOMA CITY — Construction was expected to begin this summer on the Bricktown development that includes plans for the tallest building in the U.S., but the developer has yet to get the building permits needed to start.
The real estate and financial transactions have not been finalized for The Boardwalk at Bricktown project, Kenton Tsoodle, president and CEO of The Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City, said Wednesday. “It’s a slow process,” Tsoodle said. “Everyone’s reporting things are moving along.
” Matteson Capital in Newport Beach, California, plans to build hundreds of apartments, a hotel, multiple commercial spaces, public parking and the 1,907-foot skyscraper on three-quarters of one city block at Reno and Oklahoma avenues. The project site currently is surface parking controlled by developer Randy Hogan. The land transaction has not closed yet, and financing for the first phase of the $1.
6 billion development involves various pieces and an “army of lawyers,” Tsoodle said. “There’s no holdup on the city’s side,” he said. The Oklahoma City Council in June lifted the height restriction included in the original development plan to allow construction of the proposed 1,907-foot Legends Tower in phase II of the project.
It would be 131 feet taller than the One World Trade Center in New York City and the fifth tallest building in the world. Scot Matteson, president and CEO of Matteson Capital – who could not be reached for an update this week – said in March he expected grading the entire site and putting in infrastructure would begin by late summer, followed by building underground parking and a lagoon. Plans for phase I include a 480-key Dream Hotel by Hyatt and 85 residential serviced condominiums in the Dream Tower, plus two residential towers with 1,776 apartments ranging from affordable workforce units to luxury options.
Also included is more than 110,000 square feet of space designated for commercial use, food and beverage, and a workforce development center for the community at the street and second levels. Even with the city’s approval to build the Legends Tower to 1,907 feet, the market ultimately will determine its height, Matteson and Hogan have said. In a Dec.
27 interview, Matteson said the tallest tower would be the last piece of the multi-year development to be built after the market first absorbed the apartments in the other towers. He said he expected to obtain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for the approved height. The top floors of the skyscraper would have a public observatory, restaurant and bar where visitors could enjoy sweeping views of the city.
Matteson said he envisioned it coming online with the opening of the new downtown arena. At that time, the city had committed to complete the new state-of-the-art arena no later than summer 2029 but now it is attempting to move that up to June 2028 at the request of the Oklahoma City Thunder, City Manager Craig Freeman said..
