A developer has resurfaced a proposal to replace Ford City Mall with a collection of warehouses and distribution buildings and will present it at the Chicago Plan Commission’s monthly meeting on Aug. 20, potentially bringing the now-vacant indoor shopping center one step closer to demolition.
The proposal has drawn opposition from many neighbors, who said they prefer new uses that won’t bring noisy truck traffic to the site at 7601 S. Cicero Ave. in West Lawn.
“It’s frustrating that the local community doesn’t have a voice or a say in what could be a huge development that benefits the Southwest Side,” said Adolfo Castrejon, president and founder of the West Lawn Conservation Club.
Castrejon said he and other community residents don’t oppose replacing the old mall. But instead of a quick industrial development, they prefer a long-term planning effort focused on attracting multifamily housing, updated retail, a park and perhaps a transit hub with a new CTA Orange Line stop.
“This (warehouse) plan is just dropping the ball,” Castrejon said.
Developer Kurv Industrial presented its proposal to demolish Ford City and construct four industrial buildings, totaling about 1 million square feet, to a community meeting held last summer by Ald. Derrick Curtis, 18th.
Curtis told attendees he wanted to see the struggling mall property redeveloped, and Kurv was the only developer to step forward.
But the plan appeared to be on hold this year while the property owner, city officials and the few remaining stores, including anchor tenant JCPenney, battled in court over how long the 61-year-old mall, plagued for years by high vacancy and deteriorating conditions, could stay open.
A Cook County judge eventually ordered Namdar Realty Group, which bought Ford City Mall for about $16 million in 2019, to shutter the main building for good on June 22.
The ruling ended Ford City’s six-decade run as the Southwest Side’s premier retail destination. Originally built in the 1940s to manufacture B-29 bombers, Ford City reopened as a shopping center in 1965 and had more than 100 stores during its heyday. But the rise of online retail left long stretches of its interior entirely vacant.
Kurv’s plan only calls for replacing the empty indoor mall. Outdoor tenants in the property’s North Mall and on other nearby lots, including Planet Fitness, IHOP and the AMC Ford City 14 movie theaters, all remain open for business.
More Top Picks Misters Plant
The new industrial buildings would have a maximum height of 45 feet, and include several hundred off-street loading docks.
City planners typically present development proposals on the monthly meeting agenda to Chicago Plan Commission members and then recommend approval.
Chicago Department of Planning and Development spokesperson Peter Strazzabosco said a more detailed proposal from Kurv would be posted to the city’s website on Monday, but planners weren’t ready to give a public thumbs-up or down.
“DPD does not express support or otherwise in advance of the meeting,” he said.
Neither Kurv Industrial nor Ald. Curtis’ office responded to requests for comment.
It’s no surprise an industrial developer wants to plant a new complex on the Southwest Side, said Steve Ostrowski, vice chair within the industrial services group of Colliers Chicago.
“It’s very unfortunate that the mall doesn’t exist anymore, it’s a Chicago institution,” he said. “But all six major freight railways converge in Chicago, and with Midway Airport’s cargo hub nearby, West Lawn and the Southwest Side are at the center of that convergence.”
The decline of in-store retail is also fueling demand for home deliveries, he said. That requires new warehouse and logistics buildings, including large properties with more than 200,000 square feet,
“There is a massive demand for true, big-box warehouses,” Ostrowski said. “It’s a function of the way people buy products today.”
Castrejon said Ford City’s neighbors will keep pressing officials to come up with a new plan.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” he said. “We’ll see if the city listens.”