The city of Chicago’s attempt to shut down Ford City Mall on the Southwest Side has been put off for at least another three weeks.
A Cook County judge agreed to postpone until May 15 a hearing originally set for Thursday, when the judge could have ordered the giant indoor mall’s immediate closure due to what city attorneys described as unsafe conditions.
A city spokesperson said the indoor mall’s stores can remain open for business at least until the May 15 hearing. The city has not sought to shutter stores in the property’s North Mall, an outdoor retail strip, or the outlying stores and restaurants such as IHOP.
An eventual shutdown of Ford City Mall, one of Chicago’s largest indoor malls, still seems likely. The property, opened in 1965, is now mostly vacant and plagued by flooding. Fixing its problems would be costly, and owner Namdar Realty Group has already sought to sell the main building at 7601 S. Cicero Ave.
The city and the mall owner told Judge Leonard Murray at a hearing last week that they had reached an agreement to close the main building. But many of the remaining stores complained that an immediate shutdown wouldn’t leave them enough time to wind down operations.
“There’s not even an opportunity to have a going-out-of-business sale,” said Allen Woolley, an attorney for JCPenney, the mall’s largest tenant, at the April 16 hearing.
JCPenney asked for a 30- to 60-day reprieve.
Judge Murray said during the hearing that the mall couldn’t operate that long with the dangerous conditions outlined by the city in an April 10 court filing, including a broken fire suppression system, “huge water leaks, burst sprinkler heads, and blown booster pumps,” and “open wiring, dirty conditions, and poor lighting.”
City officials and Namdar Realty Group said the fire suppression system was restored to working order on April 17, according to a new court filing.
Attorneys for the city also said they will continue discussions with JCPenney about the possible shutdown.
Ford City Mall, a manufacturing site for B-29 bombers during World War II, was for generations of Chicagoans a popular and vibrant shopping destination, but the rise of online retail forced many of its stores to close. New York-based Namdar, an investor known for buying up distressed retail, bought it for about $16 million in 2019.
Kurv Industrial, a national developer of distribution and logistics buildings, put forward a plan last summer to buy the indoor mall and replace it with a collection of warehouses. Ald. Derrick Curtis, 18th, whose ward includes Ford City Mall, has said he supports the site’s redevelopment.
The proposal still needs approvals from the Chicago Plan Commission and the full City Council.
