The owner of Copley Place wants to build a $500 million, 47-story tower beside some of the city’s most famous landmarks on the last unoccupied parcel at the shopping complex.

Simon Property Group of Indianapolis wants to build the largest residential building in Boston to house 318 units above an enlarged Neiman Marcus store and an enclosed “Wintergarden” near more retail stores at the corner of Dartmouth and Stuart Streets.

The developer still requires approvals from the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and state environmental overseers and has not provided a construction timeline. However, in a Draft Project Impact Report filed with the BRA, Simon says the project will actually improve pedestrian crossings by incorporating safety improvements to intersections and highway ramps near Huntington Avenue and Dartmouth, Exeter and Stuart Streets. The report also addresses concerns of shadows and wind by saying the new building would not increase velocity or shade on nearby open spaces.

When Copley place was built by Chicago-based Urban Investment and Development Co. in the 1980s, the complex was the largest mixed-use project in the country at the time.

The developer first proposed the plans in June 2008, but put them on the shelf when development financing withered in the capital drought caused by the recent recession.