Center, Plaza Towers Kings of O.C. Skyline

When it comes to high-rise buildings in Orange County, the extreme isn’t all that extreme.

Costa Mesa’s Center Tower, at 287 feet and 21 stories, is the tallest. The second-tallest building in the county is just 2 feet shorter: the 21-story Plaza Tower, also in Costa Mesa, near South Coast Plaza.

Signs indicate that these kings of the Orange County skyline probably won’t be dethroned by other structures any time soon.

In the 1980s, high-rise offices such as the Center and Plaza towers were seen as a sign of prosperity, and for cities, the growth of skylines heralded civic maturity.

The recession of the 1990s halted the building boom, just after community opposition killed a proposal for a 32-story building that would have been the county’s tallest.

Buoyed by signals that the economy is turning around, developers are looking to build again. But experts say the age of the high-rise office has probably passed.

Plans for the largest development project in seven years, a high-rise in Irvine near John Wayne Airport, call for a 12-story building.

Plans are underway for nearly 2-million square feet of office space in projects from Brea to Aliso Viejo, and most will be modest structures. According to experts, most entrepreneurial and computer companies favor a campus-style layout, with clusters of low buildings that suggest a more cooperative work environment.

Other tall structures in Orange County include The City Tower in Orange, at 20 stories, and Irvine’s Jamboree Towers and Lakeshore Towers, at 20 and 18 stories respectively.

Disneyland’s Matterhorn roller coaster, at 147 feet, is the tallest reproduction of a Swiss mountain in Orange County.