Think Henry Samueli and the development team behind the ambitious, nearly $4B-valued OCVibe project around Honda Center in Anaheim have their hands full? Take a look at what a pair of OC firms have drawn up in Oklahoma City.
Orange’s AO, the area’s largest architecture firm, is working with Newport Beach developer Scot Matteson on a proposed 134-story skyscraper in the downtown area of that city, as part of a larger mixed-use project dubbed Boardwalk at Bricktown whose cost has been estimated at $1.5B.
The 1,907-foot-tall residential tower would be the fifth tallest in the world, if built. The height corresponds to the year that Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th state.
Dubbed Legends Tower, it would be far taller than any other buildings in a town known for extreme weather, and its scope—1,776 proposed apartments would effectively double the number of housing units in the city’s downtown area, local reports indicate—was described as “improbable” in a recent story in Architectural Record.
Plans for the project are expected to go to Oklahoma City’s planning commission on April 11. See next week’s print edition for more on the status of that project and other recent real estate deals involving Matteson and his locally based Centurion Group.
For more on some potential changes at OCVibe, see the front page of this week’s print edition.
Newport Beach’s Manouch Moshayedi and his MX3 Ventures is upping the ante in San Francisco.
Real estate investor MX3 has owned a parking lot in SF’s Mission District since 2015, where plans for a residential development have long been eyed. In 2019, a mid-rise rental project with 60 units was proposed, but construction never moved ahead.
This year, those plans were supersized due to changing state laws that upped density allowances, in return for more affordable housing. MX3 now aims to build an 11-story, 164-unit project.
If it moves ahead, it would be the largest reported development for Moshayedi, the co-founder of local computer storage device maker STEC.
He and his family have turned to real estate investments and development since STEC’s sale in 2013 to Western Digital. MX3 is also working on redevelopment plans for the family’s holdings along the Mariner’s Mile area of Newport Beach.
Texas-based Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HHH), a developer of homes, offices and retail across the U.S., last week named a new chairman, Scot Sellers, the former head of apartment giant Archstone.
Sellers takes over the role from activist investor Bill Ackman, who OC locals know well from his unsuccessful takeover of Irvine’s Allergan about a decade ago.
Howard Hughes counts a roughly $3.4B valuation, so it’s likely not close to being the biggest board role for Sellers. He also serves on the board of Irvine Co., and close watchers of OC’s largest real estate firm indicate the exec is a close confidant of Donald Bren.
