Randhurst revamp wins Mt. Prospect board's approval

Mount Prospect village board on Tuesday unanimously approved a $150 million redevelopment agreement to gut Randhurst Shopping Center, turning it into a lifestyle center called Randhurst Village.

This latest development for the 46-year-old mall means demolition is expected as early as next month. There is no specific date for closing the mall, village officials said.

"This is a historical event," said Trustee John Korn. "Randhurst reminds me of that new car you loved when it was new, but as it aged and you had to put more money into it, no matter how much you loved it, there came a time to replace it."

Casto Lifestyle Properties, which owns the mall with JP Morgan Chase, wants to make it similar to The Glen Town Center in Glenview. That open-air mall is part of a 1,100-acre site for retail, offices and homes built on a former naval air station.

Casto plans to gut the main mall, which is in the shape of an equilateral triangle, but keep major tenants that are attached to it or on outlets near perimeter roads. They include Home Depot, Costco, Carson Pirie Scott, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Borders. A number of restaurants, a hotel and 25 smaller buildings would be scattered around the site. The AMC Theatres would be relocated. The plan allows for rental units to be built some time in the future, if the developer chooses.

If all goes as planned, the center would open in the spring 2010. Casto is currently signing up "several" stores that'll likely be back in the new mall, Cooney said. Retail rent is expected to be between $25 and $35 per square foot, Cooney said. This rent is typical for a lifestyle center like The Glen and slightly lower than Woodfield Shopping Center in Schaumburg.

The project will be helped along by $25 million concession made by the village. The money comes from projected revenue generated by sales, business, hotel and entertainment taxes under a 20-year agreement. The proposed deal ensures the village would continue to receive its annual $3.5 million in sales tax revenue from Randhurst, but it would split sales tax above that amount between the village and developer. That split is projected to add $1 million annually to village coffers. The mall is the village's largest source of sales tax, which totals $14 million a year.

Under the deal, Casto also would get the revenue from a 6 percent hotel tax, a new 25-cent tax on movie tickets, food and beverage taxes and money from a quarter-p business district tax imposed on the Randhurst site, Cooney said. The remainder of the $150 million will be obtained by Casto from private financing sources, Cooney said.