West Dundee drops $2M on Sears building, gears up for Spring Hill Mall redevelopment

West Dundee officials took over another piece of Spring Hill as the local government aims to foster a major redevelopment, a project that would mirror revival efforts that real estate players have started on indoor shopping assets throughout Chicagoland.

West Dundee trustees bought the 192,000-square-foot former Sears building for $2 million, adding to its holdings at 1072 Spring Hill Ring Road, the Daily Herald reported. The move comes two weeks after the village voted to purchase the former Macy’s at the mall that straddles both West Dundee and Carpentersville.

Two landlords remain at the shopping center: Kohl’s and Kohan Retail Investment Group. Kohan owns the former Carson Pirie Scott building and the interior of the mall.

“We do have an interest in the remainder of the mall, and I hope that we can come to a positive resolution with the Kohan group,” West Dundee Village President Chris Nelson told the outlet.

Roughly 15 percent of the mall is located in Carpentersville, including the Kohl’s and Carson Pirie Scott. Carpentersville officials earlier this month said they were made aware of West Dundee’s pursuits, but they are not interested in buying the portion of the mall that falls within its town limits.

Like many malls, Spring Hill has struggled mightily since the onset of the pandemic, as indicated by the closing of both the Sears and Macy’s locations in 2020. By owning the mall, West Dundee officials believe they’ll have more control over a future repositioning of the site.

“I would see them coming down within the next 12 to 18 months,” Nelson told the outlet. “Ideally, we’d be working with the private sector to get that done. But if we’re unable to get a development program together in the short term, I think we would look to take down some of the buildings ourselves.”

Other area developers attempting mall turnarounds include the French firm URW, which is adding 350 apartments and 200,000-square-foot healthcare facility to the Westfield Old Orchard mall in Skokie.

And in Lombard, Pacific Retail Capital Partners is spending $200 million to build a 700-unit apartment complex at the Yorktown Center mall, replacing a 12-acre portion of the property where a Carson’s used to operate.

— Quinn Donoghue