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Developer Chops Down Height on Supertall Michigan Avenue Proposal

By David Matthews | January 13, 2016 1:11pm
 An earlier rendering of the proposed 1000 S. Michigan skyscraper, left, looking north.
An earlier rendering of the proposed 1000 S. Michigan skyscraper, left, looking north.
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Jahn

DOWNTOWN — A proposed 86-story tower that would overlook Grant Park will now be significantly shorter. 

Jack George, a Chicago-based zoning attorney who represents the developer that wants to build the supertall Jahn-designed tower at 1000 S. Michigan Ave., confirmed to DNAinfo Chicago that the project will now being proposed at 832 feet tall, down from about 1,000 feet earlier. 

The change comes after a neighborhood meeting this fall in which developer Jerry Karlik unveiled an 86-story cubic tower that, if built, would have been the fifth-tallest in the city and the tallest south of Grant Park. But some neighbors at that meeting aired concerns about the proposal: a stack of cubes designed by star German architect Helmut Jahn, would disrupt the historic integrity of the neighborhood and the Michigan Avenue "street wall."


A rendering shown in October of the tower proposed for 1000 S. Michigan Ave. [Jahn]

George said he didn't know why the project is being reduced in height and deferred that question to the developer. Karlik, of New York-based JK Equities, declined to comment, and a spokeswoman for Jahn's architecture firm did not return messages.

At 832 feet, the proposed tower would not even be among the city's top 10 tallest buidlings, and just slightly taller than the 73-story Legacy at Millennium Park, 60 E. Monroe St. The height reduction was first reported as an anonymous comment posted last week on the SkyscraperPage development forum. 

George said the height reduction is accompanied by design changes, and the development team will present the project again to community groups before seeking city approval. No such meetings have been scheduled yet. 

"We have a lot of steps to go through before we go any further on this," George said. 

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