Stratford Square hiking sales tax starting Jan. 1

Shoppers at Stratford Square Mall will start paying a little more in 2008.

By then, the mall's new interior lighting system should make it a little easier for them to see where their money's going.

Bloomingdale trustees this week approved a 1 percentage point sales-tax increase for all purchases made at Stratford Square and other vendors located inside the mall's ring road. The change takes effect Jan. 1.

Village Administrator Dan Wennerholm said the tax increase to 8.75 percent should generate about $1.75 million in additional revenue annually pay for improvements to the mall, including new interior lights.

"We're very excited about the whole thing because it's a good opportunity for us to participate with the owners and to help the mall turn the corner and reach its potential," Wennerholm said Friday.

In December 2004, New York-based Feldman Mall Properties bought Stratford for $93.1 million in cash and promised to boost "mediocre" and "lackluster" sales figures by mid-2008.

To date, the real estate investment group has invested about $80 million into the mall by way of a multiphase renovation project that started with the construction of Century Theatre.

Now that the theater is open, mall General Manager Bob Allen said officials are turning their attention to aesthetic improvements, including the upgraded indoor lighting, new exterior signage and renovations to the mall's theater entrance.

The new money also will be used to renovate or reconfigure tenant spaces to help lure larger retailers and restaurants.

"Our tenants have to spend it to make it," Allen said referring to the cost of improvements. "We hold ourselves to the same standards of our tenants."

Mall officials said they are confident the higher sales tax at Stratford won't drive shoppers elsewhere.

"We've looked at that," Allen said. "But within the context of other local shopping centers, we don't believe that would put us at a competitive disadvantage."