The Evergreen Plaza is located about three miles from where I grew up. I used to ride my bike over there when I was a kid and it was my "go to" place for shopping once I learned how to drive. I am sad to see that it is being torn down.
Originally Evergreen Plaza, the shopping center opened in 1952 as an open-air mall, with Jewel, Kroger and Carson's among the early anchors. The mall was enclosed in the early 1960s, becoming the nation's first suburban indoor mall. It had 120 stores and a food court at its peak during the 1960s and '70s.
Evergreen Plaza to be torn down for new mall
By Steve Metsch Daily Southtown
The Plaza, the aging and nearly vacant mall in Evergreen Park, will be torn down and replaced with an outdoor mall featuring 30 to 40 stores, village officials announced this week.
Two development companies, one from suburban Detroit and one from Tampa, have formed Evergreen Park Developers, which plans to build the Evergreen Park Marketplace. Stores would be built along the west side of the property, facing Western Avenue, with four outlots intended for restaurants, according to the developer.
"We are a huge step closer to getting the Evergreen Plaza demolished and rebuilt," Mayor Jim Sexton said during Monday's night's village board meeting, where the plans were unveiled. "I know you may have heard some of that before, and I won't take 'no' for an answer.
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"We're going to get this done. We have assembled a very good group of people to work together," Sexton said. "They have the finances together to get this particular job done. We've been on the cusp of getting this thing done (before), and it's finally right at our fingertips."
Jay Adams, vice-president of development for Tampa-based DeBartolo Development, said the project got momentum when Lormax Stern Development Co., from suburban Detroit, became involved. DeBartolo had been trying to acquire the property, which is in foreclosure.
"(Lormax Stern has) a contract to buy this property and have invited DeBartolo to come in and work on the property with them and use our tenant knowledge for the site," Adams said. "It's a great piece of real estate. There were a lot of obstacles that are out of the way now. We're delighted to assist (Lormax Stern) with this."
On Wednesday, representatives of DeBartolo met with demolition company representatives in the mall parking lot, sizing up the building. They declined to comment when asked by a reporter.
Daniel Stern, one of the owners of Lormax Stern, said Evergreen Park Marketplace will include 30 to 40 stores.
"The retailers we're talking about, frankly, most of you have heard the names. I can tell you our phone's been ringing off the hook. People want to come into your village," Stern said.
Dick's Sporting Good and Whole Foods are interested in the project, Sexton said.
Originally Evergreen Plaza, the shopping center opened in 1952 as an open-air mall, with Jewel, Kroger and Carson's among the early anchors. The mall was enclosed in the early 1960s, becoming the nation's first suburban indoor mall. It had 120 stores and a food court at its peak during the 1960s and '70s.
But since 2013, it has been mostly vacant — consisting only of a Carson's store on the south end, Planet Fitness on the north, an Applebee's restaurant in an outlot and Enterprise Rent-A-Car in the southeast corner.
CaptionEvergreen Park Shopping Plaza
Chicago Tribune
Evergreen Park Shopping Plaza at 95th Street and Western Avenue, in 1985.
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The doors to the main area of the mall are sealed off with duct tape. Signs on the doors thank visitors for their support over the years and tout the four remaining businesses. Looking through the glass doors reveals a dark and empty building.
Increased retail competition and "changing times. You got to keep up with the changing times with retail," Sexton said, when asked what caused the steady exodus. "It's time for a change now, and we've got it. There will be some really nice retailers in there. The sooner the better."
Shopping in the women's department at Carson's on Wednesday, a few feet from the floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a bleak view of the abandoned interior of The Plaza, Toby Maxwell smiled when asked about the plans to revitalize the property.
"I love to hear about it. I'm 75 years old, and I've been shopping here for 50 years. This used to be a happening place. I'm glad that someone wants to revitalize it," Maxwell, of Chicago's Pullman community, said.
"We used to have a movie theater here. This used to be a place that would bring people to the area," she said. "Seniors used to come in the mornings to walk (inside the mall). It's terrible, terrible now."
Stern said his company is 25 years old and specializes in restoring or redeveloping older shopping malls, with most of its projects being in Michigan.
"This will be our 10th or 11th blighted property," he said. "The demographics, the people around here and the lack of retailers that we want to bring in makes it extremely exciting for us."
Village trustees this week unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Evergreen Park Developers that gives it 45 days in which to have contracts in place for the project. Sexton called that deadline "very aggressive" but is confident the project will proceed.
"We're going to try to get going in the summer," said Stern, who declined to reveal the sale price for the property.
I love to hear about it. I'm 75 years old, and I've been shopping here for 50 years. This used to be a happening place. I'm glad that someone wants to revitalize it.- Toby Maxwell, Evergreen Plaza shopper
He said Planet Fitness and Applebee's will remain on the site, and Carson's is interested in staying but with a small store. Enterprise Rent-A-Car will not stay, he said.
Sexton said demolition is expected to cost about $10 million. Who pays for it is being negotiated, he said, and there's a "possibility of some sales tax rebates and making it a special service area, maybe adding 1 percent to the sales tax."
Sexton said this is the third or fourth attempt at rejuvenating The Plaza. A similar plan collapsed in 2012 when the developers were unable to line up a supermarket to serve as a second anchor with Carson's, Bruce Provo, president of The Provo Group, the mall's owner, said at the time.
Provo Group defaulted on the mall's mortgage with Wells Fargo after steadily losing tenants, resulting in the foreclosure, Sexton said.
Stern attributed the prior failures to redevelop the property to trying to work with an aging indoor mall, a concept that "doesn't work anywhere. That's never been sustainable. But a one-story (retail) center, with the surrounding demographics, will for sure be a success."
Outside the Plaza on Wednesday morning, some shoppers commented on the planned redevelopment.
James Walker, 66, of Chicago's Beverly community, said after his workout at Planet Fitness that the site "needs some help." Walker, who is black, said he hoped the demolition and construction work would include minority-owned contractors.
Eric Drakes Jr., a Chicago Transit Authority bus driver, said he hoped for a Lou Malnati's to be included in the outlots, saying it would make for a good lunch when he's driving his route. He also said a Victoria's Secret and a Nike store would be good additions.
Lorraine Alexander, 19, of Chicago's Southeast Side, said demolition of the mall sounds extreme.
"I wouldn't tear it down," she said. "This was River Oaks Mall before there was a River Oaks (in Calumet City). You can find a lot of people out there who have businesses who are looking for space. Why not give them a chance and put them in here?"
smetsch@tribpub.com
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