Atrium mall

Urban Retail Properties developed 900 North Michigan Shops in 1988 as a luxury sister property to Water Tower Place, one block away, becoming the second vertical mall built along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. The property carried the working name Atrium Avenue Mall when Bloomingdale’s, its anchor tenant, opened that year, and is still commonly nicknamed “The Bloomingdale’s Building.”

Bloomingdale’s occupies the rear of the mall’s six-story atrium on the first seven levels of the 67-story mixed-use tower, with luxury retailers including Gucci, MaxMara, Michael Kors, Club Monaco, Kate Spade New York and J.Crew filling the remaining space; Tiffany & Co., Henri Bendel, Yves Saint Laurent and Saks Fifth Avenue were among the original 1988 tenant roster. Aster Hall, a food hall with roughly 16-20 vendors, opened on the fifth and sixth floors following a 2016 renovation.

That original “Atrium Avenue Mall” name gave way to the simpler, address-based “900 North Michigan Shops” branding over time, though the “Bloomingdale’s Building” nickname has persisted throughout, reflecting how thoroughly the anchor department store has defined the property’s identity across nearly four decades of operation as one of the Mile’s two flagship vertical luxury malls.