Arguing that the location is ideal and the necessary infrastructure is in place, a Libertyville real estate developer has pitched a plan to solve two of Lake County’s thorniest problems: what to do with Waukegan’s dying Lakehurst Mall and where to put the proposed University Center.
The answer, says developer Martin Tuohy, is University Station, a shopping, office and residential development to be built around the Lake County University Center, which Tuohy said should be located at the site of Lakehurst Mall on the west side of Waukegan.
The state-supported University Center was approved by the Illinois State Board of Higher Education last year, but needs a location.
A county task force has whittled the list of possible locations down to Lakehurst, property at the College of Lake County in Grayslake and an office complex in downtown Mundelein. State officials are scheduled to choose one of those locations in April.
Waukegan officials and Tuohy aim to put Lakehurst at the top of the list with the University Station proposal. They describe it as a package deal that will offer the university a range of amenities it wouldn’t be able to get in Mundelein or Grayslake.
For starters, they say, Lakehurst’s 130-acre site is hooked up to water, sewer and electricity. The main mall building and many outbuildings along the ring road that circles the mall are structurally sound, vacant and only in need of renovation.
Plus, the mix of new tenants is key to the plan, Tuohy said. The trend in urban planning, he said, is toward the “main street” concept that gives people the opportunity to live, work and shop in the same area by creating largely self-sufficient developments similar to small towns or big-city neighborhoods.
“Big malls like this are being torn down all over the country, and it’s because people want the main street concept to come back,” Tuohy said while presenting the plan to the Waukegan City Council.
The mall has been on the market since 1997 with an asking price of $30 million.
Tuohy said he has signed a contract to purchase the mall from the Richard E. Jacobs Group of Cleveland that is not contingent upon the site being selected for the University Center. He declined to disclose details of the contract.
Tuohy’s plan envisions apartments, townhouses and student dormitories mixed with blocks of shops and office buildings around a main building.
Some businesses along the ring road would be bought out or given incentives to move to new locations within the development, Tuohy said.
Plans also include apartments above street-level shops and a traditional university quadrangle to serve as a town square and gathering place.
New streets would be routed through the area to allow for what Tuohy called “dense, urban development.”
Tuohy also envisions a Metra train station in the future.
Several developers have in the last year looked into revitalizing the mall, but all have bailed out before going public with plans, said Waukegan Ald. John Rickerd, whose 3rd Ward includes the mall.
“I feel that this will be the group that will do it,” Rickerd said. “It’s a sleeping giant just waiting to come alive.”
