Celebration for new Macy’s store at Gurnee Mills
Construction is set to begin on a new department store in Gurnee that is expected to boost the village’s biggest source of sales tax receipts.
All of the excitement is about the opening of a full-line Macy’s department store between entrances C and D on Gurnee Mills’ south end. Macy’s plans to open in spring 2013 in the 130,000-square-foot space.
Roughly 200 new jobs will be created for the Gurnee Macy’s, according to the company.
Mayor Kristina Kovarik said a Tuesday morning groundbreaking ceremony will represent Gurnee Mills’ transition toward becoming a mall with a mix of outlet stores offering deep discounts and traditional retail shopping. Gurnee Mills originally was an outlet mall that attracted bargain hunters.
“Consumers are fickle,” Kovarik said Monday. “You have to keep it fresh.”
Sales taxes are expected to represent about 48 percent of Gurnee’s general fund revenue, according to the village’s 2012-13 budget that began May 1. The village projects sales tax receipts at $16.1 million for the new fiscal year, with Gurnee Mills being the biggest producer.
Macy’s spokeswoman Liz Kores said it’ll be the company’s first store in a combination outlet and retail shopping center. She said the Gurnee Mills location also will be one of Macy’s first “lifestyle” stores that’ll have a full selection of merchandise on one floor.
Gurnee trustees last year approved spending a maximum of $10 million in public money so Macy’s could open in the village. They voted to borrow the $10 million through issuance of Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds, a low-interest federal program meant to help Illinois counties that sustained flood damage in 2008.
Officials said the $10 million would go toward demolition of a former Circuit City store and prepare a building pad for the Macy’s, along with interior renovations, tenant relocations and other mall upgrades.
Representatives from the mall’s parent company, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, said the overall cost of Gurnee Mills renovations is pegged at $20 million. They said the upgrades would be impossible without public financial assistance.
Meanwhile, Macy’s groundbreaking isn’t the only good economic news for Gurnee.
Kovarik said the Holiday Inn Gurnee Convention Center reopened Friday, about nine months after a five-alarm fire erupted while work was winding down on an extensive renovation. The blaze was contained to the banquet and restaurant area.
Visitors will be impressed with what now is a stylish hotel, Kovarik said.
“Believe me, it’s not your father’s Holiday Inn,” she said.