Hawthorn redevelopment will feature new tenants in 2024
An eventful year for the Hawthorn mall campus in Vernon Hills will carry into 2024 with continuing redevelopment and the addition of several new businesses.
The 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2023, but the mall north and west of Milwaukee Avenue and Route 60 has changed markedly from its original incarnation.
Hawthorn 2.0, a comprehensive redevelopment launched in 2019 by mall owner Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate notched significant milestones this year in becoming “a self-sustaining live-work-play campus.”
Among them was the opening of The Domaine, a 311-unit luxury apartment development housed in two 4-story buildings flanking a new streetscape called Hawthorn Row on the footprint of the long-gone Sears anchor store.
"This is all good. It is good for the mall, it is good for the village of Vernon Hills, and it is good for the whole region," said Village President Roger Byrne.
Andrew Jennings, the village's community development director, earlier this month said The Domaine was about 35% occupied with an additional 30 units leased awaiting move-ins.
According to Centennial, another 250 apartments, a 3-acre outdoor plaza, new food gallery on the upper level inside the mall and “carefully chosen food and beverage tenants” for out parcels along Ring Road are planned in the next phase of redevelopment.
Centennial recently announced the addition of six new tenants to the mix, including four coming in 2024 to the ground-floor spaces on Hawthorn Row. The latest additions to the tenant roster include:
- Sephora: A variety of personal care and beauty products, brands and services. The store will be relocating from inside the mall.
- Anthropologie: Offers a mostly exclusive assortment of clothing, shoes, accessories, furniture, home décor and more.
- FP Movement: Free People’s line offers performance-ready active wear beyond gym staples and an assortment of supplements and elixirs with personalized shopping available from expert stylists.
- The Lovesac Company: Connecticut-based company that designs, manufactures and sells unique, high-quality furniture through a proprietary “Designed for Life” approach.
On the perimeter at 1050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Perry's Steakhouse & Grille is expected to open this winter offering butcher-fresh steak, table-side presentations and carvings, innovative seafood entries and the flagship seven-finger high pork chop.
The restaurant will seat up to 350 and features four private dining rooms. Patio dining will accommodate another 45 diners. This will be the Texas-based restaurant group’s third Chicago-area location.
Along Route 60, plans for a Dom's Kitchen & Market are under review. The specialty grocery store features a coffee and wine bar and selection of chef-prepared meals. The company’s first suburban location is expected to open in 2025.
“We are excited to welcome these new tenants and to soon announce others yet to come, all part of the significant and very carefully crafted transformation that is making Hawthorn one of the best master-planned developments in the Midwest,” said Jeff Rutzen, general manager.
For the holiday shopping season, Rutzen said several retailers, including dining and entertainment operators, reported sales above last year as well as 2019 figures. The number of families visiting Santa Clause at the Christmas Story set also increased, he added.