Mount Prospect Borders building has date with wrecking ball

The vacant Borders Books & Music building at the corner of Elmhurst and Rand roads in Mount Prospect will soon be demolished, village officials said.

Community Development Director Bill Cooney expects the building to come down between now and early February. The site then probably will be redeveloped with multiple smaller buildings, he said.

The two-story building has sat empty since 2011, when Borders closed the Mount Prospect store on the way to going out of business altogether. Although it occupies a highly visible spot on the Randhurst Village site — one that’s easily seen from all legs of the well-traveled Elmhurst/Rand intersection — there’s been little interest by retailers to move in.

“It’s two stories, which is not particularly desirable in today’s market,” Cooney said.

Randhurst Village includes many successful outlots like the one on which the Borders building stands, said Cooney, who doesn’t expect it will be too difficult to find tenants for that lot down the road.

In addition to improving the development prospects of the lot, demolishing the building will also improve the visual appeal of the property, he added.

“Right now that building kind of blocks the view of Randhurst Village,” he said. “It will be nice to improve that vista.”

The Borders store closed just as the Randhurst development was being transformed from an enclosed mall to an open-air shopping center with a “Main Street” approach. Village officials say they’re happy with the progress of Randhurst Village, which expects to welcome Earth & Ocean Restaurant next month as its newest tenant. Earth & Ocean is being opened by the people behind the popular “new Asian” restaurant, Sunda, in Chicago.