In 1990, the grand opening of a shopping mall was a big deal, and Lincolnwood Town Center did it right. A jazz ensemble played, a water-and-light show entertained the crowd and \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d co-host Vanna White signed autographs for star-struck fans.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2026, and Lincolnwood Town Center has a date with the wrecking ball. On Friday, most of this cavernous structure is scheduled to shut down for good, joining a long list of indoor shopping centers that became millstones rather than economic engines for their surrounding communities.<\/p>\n
Many of the Chicago area\u2019s once-popular shopping centers are down on their luck. Northbrook Court, formerly a beacon of high-end retailing located in the heart of Chicago\u2019s wealthy northern suburbs, is pockmarked with vacancies today. Chicago city officials seeking to shutter the dilapidated Ford City Mall on the Southwest Side have branded it a \u201cdeath trap\u201d that could \u201ccave in\u201d at any moment, according to news accounts.<\/p>\n
Even crown jewels such as Skokie\u2019s Old Orchard and downtown Chicago\u2019s Water Tower Place require costly renovations to compete in the current retail environment \u2014 where online shopping dominates, teens hang out on social media instead of in the food court and middle-income households pinch pennies to meet the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
Enclosed malls started to age badly almost 30 years ago, and many that aren\u2019t dead already look like candidates for last rites. In some cases, however, those vultures circling the air over yesterday\u2019s gallerias, plazas and megamalls are actually vulture investors.<\/p>\n
One of the great strengths of American business is its capacity for reinvention. The fall of the mall is putting that reputation to the test. Reimagining these white elephants is no small task, but at least in some cases, it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n
The most obvious successes are at the very high end. The New York Times recently profiled Simon Property Group\u2019s venerable Roosevelt Field outside New York City, which is 96.3% occupied, with luxury tenants like Armani, Hermes and Rolex. This \u201cvery specific type of mall\u201d is still a winner in an economy where the wealthiest households are thriving.<\/p>\n
You might think Water Tower Place on Chicago\u2019s iconic Mag Mile could make that transition to uber-upscale, but there\u2019s a limit, especially with Oak Street\u2019s luxury corridor just steps away.<\/p>\n
The 50-year-old vertical mall is getting a $170 million redevelopment that positions merchants solely on its first three levels. Floors four through eight, once part of the retail experience, will be separated from shoppers for medical offices and other uses \u2014 quite a gamble in a downtown full of vacant office space.<\/p>\n
At Westfield Old Orchard, a landmark outdoor mall that still attracts affluent crowds, a $100 million-plus \u201cmall-to-mixed-use\u201d transformation is also underway. Planners envision hundreds of luxury apartments, along with green spaces, fitness facilities and hotel rooms, to be mixed in with stores and offices.<\/p>\n
The transformation of malls from retail meccas to so-called \u201clive-work-shop-play\u201d destinations is becoming a popular approach across the country when the locations can support it.<\/p>\n
While the Lincolnwood Town Center site at McCormick Boulevard and Touhy Avenue wouldn\u2019t support going way upscale, at least the property has a future after many years in the retail equivalent of hospice.<\/p>\n
As of mid-April, just two-dozen stores were still operating, a fraction of the shopping center\u2019s outlets. Most of the remaining hangers-on were staging going-out-of-business sales. The food court was completely shuttered, and the Coca-Cola vending machines had been yanked from their alcoves.<\/p>\n
Some bargain hunters poked around, while a handful of old-timers walked the halls for exercise. Incongruously, a Victoria\u2019s Secret store was still well-stocked, its window still polished and inviting, an odd contrast to the mall\u2019s decline. The store reportedly plans to remain open, along with another couple of retailers, beyond the first phase of demolition that\u2019s now getting under way.<\/p>\n
The current plan, according to Lincolnwood public documents, calls for replacing today\u2019s Town Center in several phases with a new big-box store, car dealership and additional commercial uses.<\/p>\n
The village has signed an agreement to help with the redevelopment of the 31-acre site while protecting the public\u2019s financial interests. At least the village didn\u2019t have to invoke eminent domain to seize the property and try to make it productive again, which was a possibility. This relic hasn\u2019t provided an economic benefit to the community for ages.<\/p>\n
The agreement marks the second historic end point for the village\u2019s \u201cGateway to Lincolnwood.\u201d When it opened 36 years ago, the shopping center replaced the abandoned headquarters of Bell & Howell, a classic Chicago company that for decades occupied the same location.<\/p>\n
Will the latest \u201creimagining\u201d work?<\/p>\n
America\u2019s economy has been the envy of the world for its talent at replacing old, inefficient business models, scaling up new technologies and turning failures into comebacks. With any luck, Lincolnwood\u2019s latest roll of the dice eventually will generate additional new tax revenue well beyond the public costs incurred during the transition.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s hoping village officials and the gutsy developers taking over this underperforming eyesore get it right and thrive in the future.<\/p>\n
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1990, the grand opening of a shopping mall was a big deal, and Lincolnwood Town Center did…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":765892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,314416,314417,58073,222427],"class_list":{"0":"post-765891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-lincolnwood-mall","12":"tag-old-orchard","13":"tag-shopping-malls","14":"tag-water-tower-place"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116499257022689766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}