The idea of building the southwest suburbs’ next regional mall near Bolingbrook has been kicking around for about three years.
A spot for it, sketched out near Interstate Highways 355 and 55, along Boughton Road, has been included in area planning maps and development designs for the burgeoning Heritage Corridor.
Now, based on permit applications for a wetlands-mitigation plan under review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Chicago, the mall appears to be taking a turn toward reality.
According to the federal documents, the developer plans to build “a retail and entertainment center” comprising a 180-store mall with four anchors on two levels, totaling 1.2 million square feet of leasable space. The plan also describes a 4,000-seat theater complex, six restaurants and a food court.
By comparison, Orland Square Mall in Orland Park has about 1.2 million square feet of leasable space and nearly 160 stores. Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, one of the country’s largest, has nearly twice that amount.
Though a spokesman for an Ohio-based real estate investment firm declined to comment about its involvement in the project, village officials have confirmed that a mall plan is in the works.
Kim Bailey, a spokeswoman for Glimcher Realty Trust of Columbus, Ohio, which sources say is doing the planning, said the company would make a formal announcement “should we be doing anything there or anywhere else . . . and to date, we haven’t announced anything in that area.”
Village officials also declined to identify the developer.
Dennis Kowalczyk, Bolingbrook community development director, and Mayor Roger Claar characterized the progress of the talks as being “well beyond just a couple of brokers who have a good idea after a long lunch.” Bolingbrook plans to annex the mall site.
Talks with a developer began more than a year ago, Claar said, “and we’ve met with them several times over the past year.”
A spokesman for Roy D. Gottlieb & Associates of Northbrook, which applied for the federal permits that are prerequisites for the site’s development, said his firm is buying the land, though he would not name the builders.
Claar said the site “is one of the prime locations left in suburban Chicago where you can find that kind of acreage at the intersection of a major expressway . . . and with the proposed (Interstate 355) extension south, it would obviously open up a nice 10- to 15-mile radius of shoppers.” Claar also is a board member of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
Peripheral commercial areas north and south of the proposed Bolingbrook mall are earmarked on the plan as being able to accommodate another 200,000 square feet of leasable space. An estimated 6,727 parking spaces are projected as needed.
The project site supports about 36 acres of wetlands, 25 percent of which would be filled, according to the application. The development plan calls for the applicant to provide compensatory wetlands on a ratio of 1.5 to 1, according to the application. The developer also proposes rerouting a portion of Lily Cache Creek.
Glimcher is a national firm that operates more than 100 malls and shopping centers in 24 states.
