New Oklahoma City Skyscraper

[The Ghostbuster]

The New York Post has an article about a new skyscraper proposed to be built in Oklahoma City: https://nypost.com/2024/04/17/real-estate/oklahoma-city-residents-question-the-planned-legends-tower/. It would be the tallest tower in the United States. I think it would be a monstrosity that would be better suited for being built in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City.

[Rothman]

Ugh.  Tbought this forum was going to be immune from this nonsense.  But, alas, the con man developer has now invaded whatever area of the Internet I frequent.

[Scott5114]

Not going to happen for the simple reason that OKC-area banks are notoriously risk-averse (there are virtually no five-over-ones in the OKC area because the banks consider it a risky, unproven venture despite them existing in practically every other US city). Non-OKC area banks generally don't like to invest in OKC-area projects because formulas used to calculate ROI elsewhere in the country don't return realistic results due to OKC's low density. (This is also why many national chains don't have locations in OKC.)

[brad2971]

Not going to happen for the simple reason that OKC-area banks are notoriously risk-averse (there are virtually no five-over-ones in the OKC area because the banks consider it a risky, unproven venture despite them existing in practically every other US city). Non-OKC area banks generally don't like to invest in OKC-area projects because formulas used to calculate ROI elsewhere in the country don't return realistic results due to OKC's low density. (This is also why many national chains don't have locations in OKC.)

Considering the cascading effects of the Penn Square Bank failure on the banking system back in 1982, those OKC-area banks are right to be risk-averse. Yes, while it may seem that sense in certain areas of the country may be short, it's not too bad to have memories that are long. 

[Scott5114]

Sure, but the Penn Square bank failures had more to do with the oil industry than real estate.

[Henry]

It'll go the same way as the Chicago Spire, which would've dwarfed One World Trade Center by some 200 feet and change.

[Road Hog]

With the commercial office space situation post-covid, I'd be stunned if there's another major skyscraper not already in the pipeline built in the next 20 years.

[GaryV]

I think it would be a monstrosity that would be better suited for being built in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City.

Because those cities need or deserve monstrosities?

I agree with other posts, that unless OKC is vastly different from other cities, large office or residential buildings are seldom needed any more. GM is moving out of the RenCen in Detroit, and they don't know what the future will hold for those buildings. Just that it won't likely be office space, and they don't know if residential would be viable.

[epzik8]

With the commercial office space situation post-covid, I'd be stunned if there's another major skyscraper not already in the pipeline built in the next 20 years.

Pretty bold prediction honestly.

[bing101]

Hmm that proposed tower in Oklahoma City could have been in places like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin and would have fit right in  the skylines of those cities given how much those places are currently fighting to attract companies to have Downtown offices in those places.

[Scott5114]

Hmm that proposed tower in Oklahoma City could have been in places like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin and would have fit right in  the skylines of those cities given how much those places are currently fighting to attract companies to have Downtown offices in those places.

Fitting right in is a bug, not a feature. The big fish in Oklahoma City's small pond are treated very well.

[Plutonic Panda]

Hmm that proposed tower in Oklahoma City could have been in places like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin and would have fit right in  the skylines of those cities given how much those places are currently fighting to attract companies to have Downtown offices in those places.

It's unlikely this thing gets built. But I will say. I don't agree with the mentality that oh, it doesn't fit in so it shouldn't be built. I've never understood that. I've never seen the issue of skyscrapers next to single family homes like what you'll see in LA and Houston. Nor do I see the issue of cities with small skylines getting a supertall. Personally I think it looks really cool.

[kernals12]

Downtown OKC has tons of vacant areas that aren't even being used as parking lots. There is no way a skyscraper will pencil out.

[Plutonic Panda]

Like that's stopped something like this from being done before.

[Plutonic Panda]

Also let me clarify my position, I don't think it'll be built. I think there's a slim chance which is a lot more than what most people think, but ultimately I don't think it'll be built. I wish it would be built. I Would love for it to be built.

But at the end of the day, I'm just hoping the rest of the development gets built.
And I'll be surprised if that happens.

For anyone that doesn't know. This is the last phase of a multi phase development that will include a dream hotel. I'm skeptical anything gets built. This is oklahoma city, the king of value engineering.

I'm also eating popcorn at all. The people that are up in arms about this and don't understand that this thing has a very small chance of being built. It's absolutely hilarious. How much conversations this is generating which i'm sure is exactly what the developer wants.

Now in theory, let's think about what happens if this does get built. I wonder if that would set off some sort of a boom in other megatalls. And to me OKC Makes perfect sense for a developer compensating with an over small penis Because it has very low land cost and construction cost. I'm not exactly packing in Africa anaconda over here So if I wanted to show off how big my building was I Would pick a low density low cost city to build in like OKC.

[bwana39]

This would be a vanity project. OKC trying to say it is a world destination as opposed to a large city in a small state.

Land is too cheap in OKC for them to build something like this. There is not a market for $M townhomes. It just makes zero sense. It would make its mark in the vanity department until it was laughingly empty after it was completed.