Chicago developer cashes out of retail development next to suburban mall

California investors pick up 5-acre outdoor center in Orland Park

15011-15081 S La Grange Rd (Loopnet)
15011-15081 S La Grange Rd (Loopnet)

A Chicago firm has cashed out of a suburban retail property recently developed.

Key Development Partners sold the 5-acre property at 15011-15081 South LaGrange Road in Orland Park to a pair of California investors, Cook County public records show. Buyers Nicholas and Candida Athens made the transaction through an entity registered in San Carlos, Calif., named Triple Orland LLC. The sale price was $17.6 million, according to Cook County records.

The property is an outdoor center adjacent to Orland Square Mall, and includes the restaurants Chipotle, Panera, Raising Cane’s and BJ’s Brew. It’s made up of four single-tenant buildings and one multi-tenant building, according to a listing on LoopNet.

Key Development constructed the buildings in recent years, according to Orland Park city documents. The developer demolished a 44,200-square-foot Toys R Us building that had been vacant since 2018, when the company went bankrupt.

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That may not be the only redevelopment play in the works at or near the Orland Square Mall, where a vacant 200,000-square-foot Sears store was put on the market in June. The store has sat empty for four years. More than 100 Sears stores closed in 2018, and owner Seritage Growth, which handles Sears properties nationwide, has been trying to refill it with one or more retailers. A broker previously said he expects whoever buys the Orland Park building to redevelop it into a mixed-use property.

Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group owns the Orland Square Mall.

Another outdoor shopping center next to Orland Square was the subject of a $13.9 million foreclosure suit from CMBS loan servicers who alleged BlitzLake Partners and GW Properties, the then-owners of the 164,000-square-foot property at 66 Orland Square, stopped making mortgage payments in May 2020.

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