Park Forest Plaza

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Park Forest Plaza

Location	Park Forest, Illinois, USA
Opening date	1949
Developer	Philip Klutznick
Owner	Village of Park Forest

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Park Forest Plaza was a shopping center located in the planned community of Park Forest, Illinois and opened in 1949. It was developed by Philip M. Klutznick as one of the first major regional shopping centers in the United States and it served as the downtown to the village. The destinctive clock tower in the open courtyard became the symbol of both the shopping center and the village. The grass and tree-lined courtyard gave the center an airy attractiveness which was popular much of the year. The mall was anchored by a Marshall Field's, Sears, and Goldblatt's store. ^[1]

Competition from a new larger indoor mall in nearby Matteson, Illinois in the early 1970s ultimately doomed Park Forest Plaza. The mall did survive until 1996 when Field's closed and Sears moved to Lincoln Mall.

The village has now converted what is left to a downtown area with local services, including retail stores, a banquet hall, a cultural arts center, a movie theater, a senior residential community and the Village Hall. Single-family homes are also being built on the outskirts of the downtown area.