Deerbrook Mall (Deerfield, Illinois)

This article is about the Deerfield, Illinois mall. For the Houston, Texas mall, see Deerbrook Mall.
Deerbrook Mall
Location Deerfield, Illinois
Coordinates 42°8′51.414″N 87°49′58.1586″W / 42.14761500°N 87.832821833°WCoordinates: 42°8′51.414″N 87°49′58.1586″W / 42.14761500°N 87.832821833°W
Address 260 S. Waukegan Road
Deerfield, Illinois 60015-5218
Opening date 1971
Developer Valenti Builders
Management Mid-America Asset Management
Owner Gateway Fairview Inc
No. of stores and services 18
No. of anchor tenants 5
Total retail floor area 135,885 sq ft (12,624.1 m2)
No. of floors 1
Website mydeerbrookmall.com

Deerbrook Mall is a regional mall in Deerfield, Illinois. Located on 47.45 acres, its anchor stores are Sports Authority, Jewel Osco, Office Max, Ulta, and Bed Bath and Beyond. Former anchors include Best Buy, Bally Total Fitness, Old Country Buffet, Blockbuster Video T.J.Maxx, and The Great Indoors. The mall is located on Waukegan Road, between the Edens Spur and Lake Cook Road.

History

In 1970, 30 acres of land was purchased from Louis Werhane, a local farmer, with the plan to develop it into a mall.[1] Primary construction was completed in 1971, with the mall's name being chosen by the winner of a drawing. The name is a combination of the two towns which the mall primarily serves: Deerfield and Northbrook.

Originally the internal theme of the mall was of a communal street scene with street lamps and water fountains featuring brass frogs and other sculptures of aquatic marine life. Sunken communal seating areas contributed to the small-town Main Street-like feel. The floor is mostly made of heavily lacquered-over red and brown bricks.

Venture, the now defunct retail chain, was a ten-year tenant in the mall.[2] Previous to Venture, the space housed a Turn Style store. Venture closed and vacated the space in January 1989. Other large retailers who vacated the mall, primarily as a result of the economic failure and reduction of the chains themselves, include Service Merchandise, Spiegel Outlet, John M. Smyth's Homemakers, and Montgomery Ward. Marshalls originally occupied the interior space, hosting T.J. Maxx. Montgomery Ward also operated an auto repair and tire facility in a separate outbuilding immediately southeast of the main mall, built in 1986 and last occupied by Bally Total Fitness, and permanently closed in the summer of 2012.

Best Buy, which took a portion of interior mall space, closed in 2012.[3] The former Montgomery Ward/Spiegel space was later occupied by The Great Indoors, and then for five months by a local children's superstore called Wonder! until late February 2012. This large space has been vacant virtually since the departure of Wards. In 2014, TJ Maxx, the last remaining tenant of the interior mall proper, announced that it would be relocating.[4]

Deerbrook Mall formerly housed a four-screen General Cinema movie theater, which opened in the mid-1970s as a 2 screen. Two auditoriums were added in the 1980s. The theater closed in 2001 and remains shuttered, with black plastic over the internal entrance. The marquee remains above the interior entrance.

1994 fire

In May 1994, a fire broke out in the Bed, Bath, and Beyond store.[5] 12 separate town's fire departments and the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System responded to the blaze, which began on the loading dock and spread to the interior of the store, damaging merchandise and the interior ceiling.

Renovation

In 1998, Atlanta-based Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc. acquired Deerbrook Mall on behalf of one of its public pension fund clients from Valenti Builders, a Northfield, Illinois-based company.[6] The new owners began a major interior and exterior renovation to update the aging mall which had been plagued by high vacancy rates.

References

  1. ↑ Handley, John (September 15, 1986). "Landmark Farm will Yield to Urban 'Progress'". Schenectady Gazette. p. 47. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. ↑ staff (September 11, 1988). "Venture To Close In Deerbrook". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  3. ↑ http://patch.com/illinois/deerfield/best-buy-to-close-deerfield-store#.VD1nNdTF9Vo
  4. ↑ http://deerfield.suntimes.com/2014/05/28/t-j-maxx-vacate-deerbrook-mall/
  5. ↑ Carlozo, Lou; Julie Irwin (May 8, 1994). "Deerfield Mall Store Damaged In Blaze". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Carrel, Elisabeth (August 22, 1998). "47-Acres of Deerbrook Mall in Deerfield under New Ownership". Daily Herald. Retrieved 19 August 2014.

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