After knocking down what was once one of the largest shopping malls in the Chicago area, officials in northwest suburban Bloomingdale are moving forward with a new name, vision and anchor tenant for the site.
The village on Wednesday unveiled new details for the site where the 1.3 million-square-foot Stratford Square Mall stood until last year.
Bloomingdale officials and their development partners said the $78 million mixed-use project on the site will be called The Grove at Bloomingdale, and the first tenant will be a 100,000-square-foot indoor sports and family recreation center called Bloomingdale Yard.
That facility, run by the company behind Westmont Yard, Naperville Yard and Milwaukee Yard, is expected to open in 2027, according to a statement.
The broader plan for the Bloomingdale site includes building 280 luxury apartments, bars, restaurants, shops, outdoor gathering spaces and a human-made lake with water features.
A central lawn will be designed to hold concerts, festivals and other events, including ice skating in the winter.
Moves to reposition decades-old malls as retail, entertainment and residential districts have played out all over the country, often with vacant former department stores being demolished or repurposed.
Examples in the Chicago suburbs include the Westfield Old Orchard mall in Skokie and the Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills.
The difference in Bloomingdale is that the village itself took a lead role, buying and demolishing the 1980s-era enclosed mall.
“The Grove represents the next chapter in Bloomingdale’s growth — a place where families, friends and visitors can come together to live, dine, shop and celebrate,” Mayor Franco Coladipietro said in the statement. “Bloomingdale Yard is a strong debut tenant, offering programs and experiences that reflect the vibrancy and community focus at the heart of The Grove, and we look forward to announcing many more tenants as this project comes to life."
Bloomingdale is working with Segovia Partners, Gravity Architecture & Design, Peak Construction and Christopher B. Burke Engineering to redevelop the site.
The village spent more than $17 million acquiring the property and plans to help fund the redevelopment with tax increment financing and a $52 million bond sale, the Daily Herald reported.
A standalone Kohl’s department store remains after the demolition.
In an email to CoStar News, a spokesperson said the entire project is expected to take five to seven years to complete. There will be more than 400,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space.
Work has begun on the Bloomingdale Yard parcel, with work on site infrastructure, public spaces and apartments expected to start next year, according to the project spokesperson.
The Stratford Square Mall was in financial distress for more than a decade, eventually closing after the loss of large retailers such as J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Carson Pirie Scott and Sears.
The site is about 10 miles from the largest mall in the Chicago area, Schaumburg’s Woodfield Mall.