A suburban Chicago retail property showdown reached federal court, with publicly traded Brixmor Property Group suing Tinley Park over a zoning freeze — leaving a 38,000-square-foot anchor space dark.
The dispute, filed in Northern Illinois District Court, centers on Tinley Park Plaza, a roughly 230,000-square-foot shopping hub at 15917 South Harlem Avenue, where New York-based Brixmor says it has poured more than $17 million into redevelopment over the past few years. A centerpiece of that project was a 38,000-square-foot grocery shell designed for Amazon Fresh, which signed a lease in 2021. However, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go shut down all of their 72 stores, the chains announced early this year, and the Tinley Park site was vacated in February.
Brixmor’s attempt to refill the space has hit a municipal brick wall. In October, the Village enacted a six-month moratorium on new business licenses for specific land uses, expressly including grocery stores — citing a need to prevent “oversaturation,” according to the lawsuit. When Brixmor sought to confirm its right to relet the space, noting it had a prospective tenant eyeing a deal, the village allegedly sent a chilling Feb. 17 email stating it would reject any application for a new grocer.
But Brixmor is pushing back against the regulatory move. The REIT argues in its lawsuit that the village is in breach of a 2020 Tax Increment Financing agreement that obligated officials to “cooperate fully” in securing permits for the project. The TIF agreement also allowed Brixmor to be reimbursed by the village for certain costs of its project, which involved demolishing 87,000 square feet of existing structures and constructing 66,000 square feet of new retail.
The suit further alleges that Brixmor holds “vested rights” and thus should get an exemption from the moratorium, because the village granted final land use approvals for a grocer long before the pause took effect.
“This lawsuit lacks merit and will result in wasted taxpayer dollars. We only wish this entity had decided to work with our community instead of filing a lawsuit that should be dismissed,” Village Manager Pat Carr said in a statement provided by a lawyer.
An attorney for Brixmor declined to comment.
The lawsuit doesn’t identify Brixmor’s new prospective tenant, other than to say that it is a grocery-focused retailer. While Amazon discontinued its Fresh and Go retail concepts, it has committed to two large warehouse-style, Costco-like stores in the Chicago suburbs of Orland Park and Oak Brook.
With the Tinley Park moratorium scheduled to expire on May 7, it’s uncertain whether village officials intend to extend it, or whether they have another prospective tenant preferred for Brixmor’s space.
Brixmor capped off a strong 2025 with $386.2 million in net income, up from $339.3 million the year before, according to its latest annual report released in February. Its performance translated to earnings of $1.25 per diluted share, compared to $1.11 in 2024.