Aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve an agreement to purchase the Des Plaines Mall, 700 Pearson St., for $2.7 million.
City Council members also voted 5-0 to accept a $96,000 a year low-bid by REO Consulting Group of Evanston to manage the mall until its probable demolition in 1998.
Of that amount, $72,000 is the salary of five mall employees, and $24,000 is the fee for the management agency, said economic development commission director Jack Klaus.
Last month, Mayor Ted Sherwood pledged to redevelop the property where the commercially stagnant Des Plaines Mall stands and to tear down the adjacent parking garage, which had divided the city’s central business district for 20 years.
City officials said they had purchased the mall through condemnation proceedings and would take possession of the 114,000 square-foot building from Skokie businessman David Friedman on Thursday.
By March 1, Sherwood said he hoped the Herbert Behrel parking deck would be demolished and that city officials would have found a developer with a preliminary plan for the entire 6.2-acre mall and parking deck site.