The better part of a year has passed since foundation work abruptly halted on a Helmut Jahn-designed skyscraper under construction across from Grant Park. Now, the team behind 1000M—named for its 1000 S. Michigan Avenue address—is hoping a change from for-sale condominiums to rental apartments will get the beleaguered project back on track.
Developers Time Equities, JK Equities, and Oak Capitals revealed their updated plans at a recent community meeting hosted by 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King. The reworked proposal will swap its previously approved 506 condominium units for 738 apartments. The building’s parking garage will shrink from 445 to 320 stalls, and the amount of enclosed amenity space swells from 20,000 to 50,000 square feet.
Despite all the interior revisions, little appears to have changed with the overall design of 1000M. The glassy tower still features a rectangular base that cantilevers south as it rises while transitioning to larger, parallelogram-shaped floorplans. The 73-story high-rise has, however, received a slight 26-foot haircut and will now top-out at 805 feet.
“This is the building that we presented [before] with some slight modifications to the top,” explained Philip Castillo, an architect with JAHN. “The general massing of the building stays the same.”
Construction on the $470 million skyscraper began in late 2019. Crews managed to complete a significant amount of foundation work before work was halted last summer when Goldman Sachs pulled its funding at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.
1000M
The development team is optimistic the latest shift in programming can help awaken the project from its indefinite slumber.
“We changed our approach because rental financing is generally easier than condominium financing,” said Francis Greenburger, founder of Time Equities. “It is our hope that it will permit either the current financing company to move forward or—if it doesn’t—we’ll get an alternative in line.”
“There are caissons in the ground right now,” said zoning attorney Jack George. “It is our intention to move forward with a building that we think will be a real credit to our city.”
However, not everyone in the neighborhood is jumping for joy over the proposed changes. The property manager of the neighboring residential building at 910 S. Michigan Avenue blasted the switch from condos to rentals in a letter to Ald. King, Crain's reported earlier this week.
Objections include concerns over increased density and traffic congestion, the “transient” nature of apartment dwellers, and fear the apartments would be rented out on sites like Airbnb as “unregulated hotel” rooms.
The zoning amendment for 1000M’s rental rebirth will need the approval of Ald. King and the Chicago Plan Commission before work can resume.
The project is not listed on the Plan Commission’s March agenda. A representative for the developers told Urbanize Chicago that the team isn’t sure about their timing for moving forward.
