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(Above) Macy’s department store in the Loop. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

UPDATE: Tax incentive was approved by the Chicago City Council on April 10.

20-Mar-19 – A special property tax incentive that encourages the preservation of designated landmarks has been introduced to the Chicago City Council that would support a planned $194 million rehabilitation of Macy’s flagship department store in the Loop.

The Class L incentive would reduce property taxes on the building by $34.7 million over the next 12 years. It was introduced on March 13 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The incentive would support updates to the building’s first seven floors by Macy’s Retail Holdings, Inc., and the conversion of the building’s top six floors to offices by Brookfield Asset Management, which purchased the upper levels last year.

Interior improvements would include a new elevator core and lobby in the central atrium; new decorative finishes; new mechanical, electrical, and fire protection systems; and a white box shell for floors 8 to 13 to accommodate future office tenants.

Photo by Juli Scalzi

(Left) Macy’s multi-level atrium decorated for Christmas 2018. Photo by Juli Scalzi.

On the outside of the building, the rehab would include repairs to masonry, facade, roof, window, and skylight; new lighting and canopies; and a separate entrance for the office portion of the building.

Completed in 1914, the building was originally designed as the flagship Marshall Field’s department store by Charles Atwood of D.H. Burnham & Company. It was designated a Chicago landmark in 2005, the same year it was acquired by Macy’s.