Mt. Prospect officials examine Randhurst 'de-malling'
If you were expecting a professional demolitions expert to implode Randhurst Shopping Center or a wrecking ball crashing through the walls of the now vacant mall, you'll be disappointed with the building's transformation into what's called a lifestyle center.
On Monday, village officials took a tour of the mall, which recently began demolition work, finding a very organized de-malling process underway. Anchor stores such as Carson Pirie Scott and perimeter stores such as Home Depot are remaining open during the two-year transition
"I am so excited to have this go forward," said Mount Prospect Mayor Irvana Wilks, after she took the tour of the mall with officials from the mall's owner, Casto Lifestyle Properties. "It's wonderful for our community to be on the cutting edge of a lifestyle center."
Inside, the shell of the mall was intact, with staircases and escalators still there. Even the potted plants around the mall's center were in place. But signs from the small, interior mall stores have been ripped down and the carpeting has been taken out, making way for the next stage of the mall's demolition. The walled partitions between the retail spaces that used to house stores like Victoria's Secret and Door County Confectionary will be torn out as early as March, said Rob Seiter, Casto's project manager.
About 60,000 tons of dirt will be dumped on the east side of the mall in the parking lot, so construction crews can fill in the mall's basement, which once doubled as a fallout shelter for the village in case of nuclear attack. Material that can be recycled that'll be ripped out of the mall will be stockpiled in the parking lot also.
After the interior is gutted, the outer mall walls will be taken down this spring.
Earlier this year, village officials had decided to put the future of the mall in the hands of Casto, approving its proposal for a major revamping of the mall. Last fall, the indoor portion of the mall with its more than 80 stores closed.
The mall is being redeveloped into what'll be called Randhurst Village at a cost of about $150 million.
The development will include a new theater, hotel, restaurant and retail and office spaces.
The center is scheduled to reopen in the summer of 2010, officials said.
The mall had opened to great fanfare in the early 1960s. It had its ups and downs through the years, but beginning in the late 1990s, the mall's prospects grew exceedingly dim as fewer people shopped there. Village officials hope the mall will be reborn into an attraction that will revive Randhurst's one-time drawing power, when as one of the first major enclosed malls in the country, it put the village on the map.
"When I was a kid, I was here the first week it opened, so seeing it now like this is kind of sad," said Village Trustee Steve Polit, who was on the tour. "But there wasn't enough retail traffic, so something had to be done."