Property once occupied by Spring Hill Mall could be transformed into a development featuring new homes, retail, entertainment and civic uses under plans presented Monday night to the West Dundee Village Board.
Tim Scott, the village’s director of economic development, planning, zoning and urban design, joined representatives from Houseal Lavigne Associates, a Chicago-based urban planning and design firm, in unveiling a general overview of ways the land could be developed.
Two concepts were presented: an “urban village” and a “mixed-use boulevard.”
Under the urban village scenario, there would be a projected 778 residential units, 320,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, 200 retail jobs, 35,000 square feet of civic space, 1,830 parking spaces, a maximum building height of five floors and an estimated buildout cost of $283 million.
The mixed-use boulevard proposes a possible 1,326 residential units, 400,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, 35,000 square feet of civic space, 1,350 parking spaces, a maximum building height of five floors and an estimated buildout cost of $449 million.
Using data-driven modeling, the two visions are “a way for the village to court developers who want to follow through on something specific,” Scott said.
As for what might go where, Sujan Shrestha, a senior planner for Houseal Lavigne, said best practices call for putting housing next to existing housing, retail by existing retail, such as by the Cinemark movie theater and the Jewel-Osco store, and incorporating features such as the retention pond into the design.
The land nearest to Carpentersville could “organically spill” over to what’s near the village-owned portion of the mall, where the Kohl’s store was the biggest tenant, as it’s developed, Scott said.
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An online microsite that will include Monday’s presentation and updates is going to be created, Scott said. Houseal Lavigne is also putting together a video game-style application through which users could create an avatar that allows them virtually visit any of the proposed development’s features, according to Devin Lavigne, the company’s principal and co-founder.
This is just the jumping off point for future development, Village President Chris Nelson stressed. There will be many meetings, discussions and public input sessions held before anything officially moves forward, including a town hall forum he would like the village to host later this summer, he said.
Nelson also noted it could take 10 years or longer for redevelopment to be fully realized.
The village signed a $124,970 contract with Hoseal Lavigne in February 2025 to assist the village with redevelopment of the mall site, Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said.
Spring Hill Mall, built in the 1980s, closed in March 2024 after the village purchased a large section of the property and Carpentersville purchased the rest. West Dundee spent about $6 million to demolish the mall and for additional expenses, including fencing, utilities, property taxes, property maintenance, legal fees and professional services, Cavallaro said.
Among the next steps will be to prepare the necessary documents and to do groundwork for project considerations.
“The documents need to have a clear understanding of the village’s vision, expectations, timelines, post-closing control and other items,” Cavallaro said. “The goal is to have these in place and as a basic framework to work off of as individual development pieces come in and are being considered and evaluated.”
Another step will be to finalize the layout and location of a new public safety center.
“There has been some misunderstanding that somehow the public safety center is the only thing that will be developed on the site,” Cavallaro said. “It is more than likely the first development that will occur as it is directly under the village’s direct control and it will be about four acres of 100 acres that is developable within the entire area.”
The village will also need to finalize concepts for utility and roadway layouts “to understand how existing infrastructure such as water mains, sanitary sewer and storm sewer lines have to be reconfigured, resized and relocated in order to apply to the basic street layout and vision,” he said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.