After backlash, Rosemont mall reverses pay-to-park policy
After months of complaints from shoppers, businesses and Rosemont’s powerful mayor, Fashion Outlets of Chicago officials on Monday announced a reversal of their paid parking policy.
Starting Wednesday, parking will be free for the first three hours, a spokesman for mall owner Macerich confirmed.
“We listened to feedback from the community and our retailers,” the Macerich spokesman wrote in an email to the Daily Herald. “Beginning Wednesday, the first three hours of parking are free for all guests, no purchase required, keeping us on track with our original goal of making it easier for shoppers and diners to visit our stores and restaurants while still discouraging long-term parking from non-shoppers.”
The two-level, 530,000-square-foot shopping center instituted the pay-to-park policy in February. That made it the only mall in the suburbs to charge all drivers to park, though others like Oakbrook Center offer spaces closer to the entrances for a fee.
Macerich officials at the time said the program prioritized parking availability for shoppers and discouraged overnight, event and airport parking. They argued parking rates were comparable to nearby facilities.
Parking was free for the first hour, then $13 for 1-3 hours, $20 for 3-12 hours, and $50 for 12-24 hours.
Shoppers could get up to three hours free if they made at least $100 in same-day purchases and got validation at the mall’s guest services desk.
Mayor Brad Stephens publicly lodged his objections in a May 16 Daily Herald story, fearing a decline in business, foot traffic and revenues from what is one of the biggest sales tax generators in town. Already, the mall’s statistics showed the number of shoppers walking into the outlet center had decreased since paid parking started, Stephens said.
Even after an in-person meeting with Stephens and executives from the Santa Monica, California-based mall owner, both sides didn’t initially budge from their positions, until Monday’s announcement.
cplacek@dailyherald.com