1000 South Michigan

1000 South Michigan is a skyscraper planned for Chicago, Illinois in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District portion of Michigan Avenue in the Loop community area. It is designed by Helmut Jahn. According to Crain's Chicago Business, plans for the building were known in August 2015. Although the historic district zoning has height restrictions of 425 feet (129.5 m), on September 23, the City Clerk of Chicago website posted that the building is planned to have a rooftop terrace that reaches 1,030 feet (313.9 m) according to Dennis Rodkin of Crain's Chicago Business. Over a month later, Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune stated that the plan was to be for a 1,001-foot (305.1 m) tower. The building is a joint venture between New York-based JK Equities and New York-based Time Equities. Eventually, the building was redesigned to stand at 832 feet (253.6 m). The plan was approved on April 22, 2016.

Based on an October 29, 2015 presentation, the 506-unit building was planned to include 358 condominiums and 148 rental apartments at 1000 South Michigan Avenue between the 100-foot Lightner Building at 1006 South Michigan and the 272-foot Karpen-Standard Oil Building at 910 South Michigan on what has been a vacant lot. Instead of the more common setback architectural design, the building would have had overhangs on its south face with rising cubes that are successively larger that present a "striking, if somewhat precarious, effect" according to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kamin. The Landmark Commission has jurisdiction over the proposal due to its placement in the Historic District. In February 2016, Commission on Chicago Landmarks considered formalizing a 900-foot (274.3 m) height restriction in the region of the historic district between 8th and 11th streets. Subsequently a redesigned building employed a curving silhouette rather than a sequential overhangs.

The early designs for the building included an 85th-floor roof deck for condo residents. The property, which overlooks Grant Park, had been owned by Warren Barr who had plans for a 40-story condominium tower until he lost ownership through foreclosure to First American Bank in a July 2010 proceeding that saw the property sell for $11.3 million. If completed, the building will surpass the 430 feet (131.1 m) Metropolitan Tower at 310 South Michigan as the Historic Michigan Boulevard District's tallest structure. It will also become the tallest building in the city south of the Willis Tower. Even after the shorter redesign, the building retained the claim as the tallest building along Michigan Avenue in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District across from Grant Park.