XRoads Buys Lincolnwood Town Center Mall Out of Distress

A struggling mall outside of Chicago could be headed for a comeback.

Chicago-based commercial real estate firm Xroads Real Estate Advisors bought Lincolnwood Town Center this week for $12.3 million, completing a massive dropoff for a property dragged through a lengthy and costly foreclosure process.

The 31 acre property at 3333 West Touhy Avenue and McCormick Boulevard was previously owned by Washington Prime Group before the company filed for bankruptcy in 2022. The last loan on the property was issued in 2014 for $52.8 million, signaling a staggering loss in value over the past decade.

Eventually, Keybank took over the property before selling it to Xroads. The loan became the subject of a nearly $50 million foreclosure lawsuit in 2021. The new owner plans to work with the Village of Lincolnwood to “re-imagine what this site can become,” Xroads President Kirsten Bowersox said.

The move comes not long after the village of Lincolnwood considered taking over the site via eminent domain as a last-ditch effort to bring the faltering mall back to life. But now the town has an easier path ahead that avoids the legal challenges of pursuing a takeover of the property’s ownership.

A redevelopment blueprint, the “Lincolnwood Town Center Concept Plan,” was adopted by the Village Board in 2022, laying out mixed-use scenarios that include apartments, offices and entertainment.

Mall giant Simon Properties developed the mall over 30 years ago. Former Simon subsidiary Washington Prime became the sole owner of the property in 2014 when Simon spun off Washington Prime and it became an independent public company.

Lincolnwood Town Center was once dubbed “the largest redevelopment opportunity within Chicago’s inner-ring suburbs,” by Chicago’s local NBC affiliate. The mall has cycled through owners and foreclosure proceedings for years. JLL was tapped to market it for sale in 2022.

Lincolnwood Town Center has long been a casualty of suburban malls’ slow-motion collapse. Its largest anchor, Carson’s, shuttered in 2018, and got replaced by RoomPlace, which has 84,000 square feet.

Today, Kohl’s is the main draw with a footprint of 102,000 square feet, alongside about three dozen smaller tenants, but swaths of space sit empty. The mall was 81 percent occupied as of the fall of 2025.

JLL’s marketing materials pitched the 423,000-square-foot center as a “1990 vintage property” ripe for repositioning. The firm highlights Lincolnwood’s support for a new owner, existing lease structures and the potential to introduce multifamily, office and service retail to the site.

The recent sale also comes as other large Chicagoland malls have undergone major renovations or redevelopment and new investments in suburban shopping centers that are primed for upgrades in the Chicago area are picking up.

At least one shopping center in the Chicago area has bucked the trend of suburban shopping malls taking a nosedive.

Brookfield Properties’ Oakbrook Center in Oakbrook has seen a slew of new retailers as property values in the area reach new heights.