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Construction underway on new Kildeer mall on Rand Road

Construction is underway on a new development that will beef up southern Lake County's burgeoning Rand Road retail corridor.

Work has begun in earnest on Kildeer Village Square, expected to open in spring 2017 with stores including Nordstrom Rack and Nike. Up to 18 stores are projected for the mall.

Chicago-based Bond Companies is behind the addition to the Rand Road retail corridor just north of Lake-Cook Road. The new 180,000-square-foot mall will be adjacent to a Whole Foods supermarket and other stores that are part of Bond's Kildeer Marketplace on the south and Shops of Kildeer to the north.

Bond Companies Executive Vice President Damon Dance said the apparel-focused Kildeer Village Square will fill a vacant parcel and create a better retail flow along on Rand Road.

"The fact that there's a handful of shopping centers - Kildeer Marketplace, Shops of Kildeer, Deer Park Town Center - in the immediate area made it an attractive retail node," Dance said. "And our belief is that adding Kildeer Village Square to the roster, or mix, takes this to the next level of becoming a major regional retail node."

Deer Park Town Center, an upscale retail development, got the ball rolling in the corridor in October 2000 and continues to draw shoppers to the likes of York Furrier, Crate and Barrel, Vera Bradley and Apple Store. Kildeer's malls followed on the east side of Rand with Bed, Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Stein Mart and more.

For the new mall, Kildeer Chief Village Officer Michael Talbett said, construction crews are ensuring stormwater drainage is handled properly on the site where Lake Zurich Unit District 95's Charles Quentin Elementary School operated until 2009. He said village officials had expressed concern about stormwater drainage on the land when Bond Companies bought the site for $1.8 million in 2014.

"Most of the time-consuming effort is going to be getting the site right, so we don't have problems afterward with stormwater flooding and (interior) roads not being level and draining properly," Talbett said.

In addition to Nordstrom Rack and Nike, Forever 21 and Sierra Trading Post have signed on to occupy Kildeer Village Square. Dance said the plaza will have a mix of large and small retailers and may include some restaurants.

Although exact numbers are not yet available, Kildeer Village Square will boost the village's annual sales tax income, Talbett said. Kildeer's three existing Rand Road malls are projected to generate $1.9 million in sales tax over the next year, according to the 2016-17 budget.

Kildeer Village Square is among the few malls under construction in the United States, said retail consultant Anne Brouwer of McMillanDoolittle in Chicago. She said the increasing competition bricks-and-mortar stores face with online shopping generally has kept new malls to what are viewed as high-opportunity areas, based on demographics or the lack of certain retailers.

"Traffic (in malls) is definitely down," Brouwer said. "Duration is definitely down in shopping malls."

Dance said that despite a segment of the population that's gravitated toward online shopping, which poses a challenge to physical stores, retail centers will continue to fill a need for consumers.

"Fundamentally, as developers in the retail space, we believe in the bricks-and-mortar strategy," he said. "There's always going to be a need for that type of experience for the other part of the segments within the customer base. There's going to be an interest to go to stores, to have a tangible experience, to feel the products, the ability to experience it firsthand."

Kildeer Village Square is expected to open in spring 2017 on Rand Road in Kildeer. Courtesy of Bond Companies
  Work continues on a new shopping mall in Kildeer off Rand Road just south of Chick-fil-A and north of Whole Foods. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Kildeer's Chick-fil-A is barely visible over mounds of dirt along Rand Road. Construction is under way for the new Kildeer Village Square mall. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
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