The Community Development Commission approved a $100 million face-lift for Chicago’s Brickyard Mall Tuesday, saying the Northwest Side structure deserves redevelopment funds to rejuvenate business and create jobs.
More than $25 million of the $109 million project is being funded by the city through the creation of a tax increment financing district. Alicia Berg, commissioner of the Planning and Development Department, said the funding would allow significant renewal of a mostly vacant mall and create 1,000 retail jobs.
“This is the kind of project that the TIF program was made for,” Berg said. “It will create and retain hundreds of jobs. And with new retail options in the neighborhood, the community won’t have to go to the suburbs to shop.”
Brickyard Mall was built in 1977 at the southwest corner of Diversey and Narragansett Avenues and for many years was a thriving addition to the neighborhood.
The mall suffered from declining foot traffic and has remained mostly dormant in the last two years as its anchor stores–Kmart, JCPenney and Montgomery Wards–pulled out. The mall is currently 80 percent vacant, and the only remaining major tenant is a Jewel grocery store.
The renovated mall would be anchored by a Target and Lowe’s home improvement store, along with a new Jewel-Osco, said Pete Scales, Planning and Development Department spokesman.
Ald. William J.P. Banks (36th) said the project also would keep sales tax revenues in Chicago because residents would no longer go to the suburbs to shop.
“The residents of the Northwest Side will benefit greatly from this project,” he said.
If the full City Council approves, the existing 880,000-square-foot enclosed, multilevel mall will be completely demolished this spring and replaced with a smaller, open-air design now in vogue with retailers. The new Jewel-Osco is expected to open by the end of this year, and Target and Lowe’s are expected to open by 2004, Scales said.
