The new owners of Lincoln Mall say the bulk of the preliminary work for a massive redevelopment project is completed and that physical changes should be coming to the property soon.
“We’ve got a lot of things going on, but a lot of these aren’t readily apparent on the site,” Rives Castleman of Dallas-based Realty America Group told village officials last week.
Castleman said two stumbling blocks have been removed now that the company has acquired the old Lincoln Mall theater and the former J.C. Penney building on the northeast corner of the property.
Both buildings will be razed to pave the way for construction of a ring road around the 990,000-acre site near U.S. Highway 30 and Cicero Avenue.
“We’re in discussion with two or three major tenants,” Castleman said.
Some residents and Village Board members have criticized the slow pace of the redevelopment, which is to include new anchor stores, restaurants and a new movie theater. But Castleman said the company also is weathering a weak retail environment.