Lender Halts Chicago's '1000M' Tower as Developer Seeks New Financing

The $470-million skyscraper is first major city project shut due to COVID-19 funding impact

The 1000M Tower is planned to be the tallest building in Chicago's South Michigan Avenue historic district. Rendering courtesy of Time Equities

The planned 74-story 1000M condominium tower project in Chicago's South Loop area has been put on hold by construction financier Goldman-Sachs.

Francis Greenburger, chairman of New York City-based Time Equities, one of three project developers, said the lender is “concerned about economic stability of the market at this particular time due to recent events.”

Contractor James McHugh Construction Co. had already halted construction in June due to the COVID-19 pandemic, developers said at the time.

Greenburger said construction will stay paused on the project for 90 days while Goldman-Sachs performs its review, with September the soonest it may resume with its current financing. He declined to say how much Goldman-Sachs had invested in the project.

Time Equities said it would talk to other lenders about possibly financing the project in the interim, he said.

“We are hopeful that a solution will be found in the months ahead,” Greenburger said, adding that Goldman-Sachs finished funding foundation work on the tower but declined to finance it further, pending its review.

The tower, designed by architect Helmut Jahn and set to be 832 ft tall, ranked No. 30 on ENR Midwest's list of 2019 Top Starts.

Named after its address at 1000 S. Michigan Ave., directly across from Chicago's Grant Park, the 421-unit tower would the tallest in the South Michigan Avenue historic district if completed. It would also be the tallest building designed by Jahn in Chicago, with other projects including the James R. Thompson Center and the United Terminal at O'Hare International Airport. A spokesperson for McHugh said the contractor would be ready to resume the project if or when its financing problems are solved.

ENR Midwest Editor and Associate Technology Editor Jeff Yoders has been writing about design and construction innovations for 16 years. He is a two-time Jesse H. Neal award winner and multiple ASBPE winner for his tech coverage. Jeff previously launched Building Design + Construction's building information modeling blog and wrote a geographic information systems column at CE News. He also wrote about materials prices, construction procurement and estimation for MetalMiner.com. He lives in Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, where the pace of innovation never leaves him without a story to chase.