Novak draws aldermanic scrutiny with Little Village mall plans

Vendors in the Little Village Discount Mall in Marshall Square are asking landlord John Novak to include them in his future plans for the shopping center.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-López recently joined the retailers at a news conference outside the mall, located at 3115 West 26th Street, to request Novak and his company, Novak Construction, share his plans for the 6-acre property he bought in 2019, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“These spaces shouldn’t be closing but expanding,” Sigcho-López said at the conference. “They’re not just part of the community but one of the city’s resources.”

The approximately 100 vendors have leases that expire at the end of January. Previously, Novak has said he planned to replace the local stores with national retailers, but many of the longtime tenants say they contribute enough to the community to stick around.

“We don’t have the famous brands of Michigan Avenue, but we still draw tourists from all over, from Florida to New York,” Kocoy Malagón, who runs a dress shop at the mall, said at the conference. “We’re businesspeople that provide for this community and employ our youth.”

Vendors pay rent of $20 per square foot and one even offered to up the rent to $30. However, Novak reportedly said he wouldn’t accept anything less than $45.

Sigcho-Lopez, whose 25th Ward includes a large portion of the Lower West Side neighborhood, has requested Novak meet with the vendors to talk about the future and said that closing the mall shouldn’t even be considered. If Novak doesn’t agree to meet, Sigcho-Lopez said he would reach out to the city’s Department of Planning in hopes of buying time.

“Any development of this size needs to be done with the community and local aldermen,” Sigcho-López said at the conference. “We will exhaust every option, including legal action.”

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