Costco bringing second Naperville store to East Ogden mall

Costco plans to open in a decades-old Naperville strip mall, providing a major boost to the city's revitalization efforts along the East Ogden Avenue corridor.

The warehouse retailer has entered into an agreement to purchase a portion of the mall at the northeast corner of Ogden Avenue and Iroquois Avenue, including the site of the long-dormant Kmart store, one of the largest retail vacancies in the shopping area.

Costco has submitted plans to the city to redevelop its portion of the East Ogden Mall with a 159,000-square-foot warehouse club and a gas station. It would mark the second store in Naperville.

"Along with the Naperville Development Partnership, the city council and I have been working tirelessly for years to bring Costco to our city's eastern gateway," Mayor Steve Chirico said in an announcement Friday. "Filling this strategic space has been a long-standing priority, and we are thrilled Costco will help further re-establish this area as a leading business and service corridor in Naperville."

The city is negotiating a sales tax increment incentive with Costco to offset some of the "extraordinary costs" of the redevelopment.

Filling the mall's vacancies is part of a larger effort to reinvigorate the northeastern gateway into Naperville. The city has touted new restaurants - most recently Guzman y Gomez and Culver's - that have opened in the area.

And late last year, the city council approved a project to bring 112 "micro apartments" to the site of the Regency Inn at Ogden and Tuthill Road.

Naperville Development Partnership President and CEO Christine Jeffries called the addition of Costco a "reason to celebrate."

"This continues to prove that existing spaces in Naperville can be transformed into new spaces that serve the needs of our community both today and into the future," she said in a statement.