The mall that put Vernon Hills on the map turns 50
Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills will mark its 50th anniversary Saturday with a celebration in the flair of '70s-style fashion, a champagne toast and a vision for the future.
Among the expected attendees are chief engineer George Barth, the longest-tenured Hawthorn employee at 49 years, and Gerald Niskanen, who started in mall security in 1979 and still works there part time.
Both remember fountains, old-time street lighting and other features meant to evoke "the wholesome and friendly atmosphere of shopping streets in Europe," as described in an article published as mall construction was taking shape.
Nostalgia aside, the story isn't complete without noting how the 1.3 million-square-foot shopping center transformed a tiny town surrounded by farms into a modern community and the top commercial center in Lake County.
"When I needed a permit, I would go to someone's house in Vernon Hills," said Barth, who has an encyclopedic recall of the stores, people and other details in mall history.
Retail sales of $1.9 billion last year outpaced second place Gurnee at $1.4 billion, according to John C. Melaniphy III, president of Chicago-based retail consultant Melaniphy & Associates Inc., which has advised the village since 1990.
Hawthorn is a main reason Vernon Hills never levied a local property tax; its presence sparked a wave of ancillary commercial development.
"When you look at what that's done for the community, it's dollars and cents," Melaniphy said.
Hawthorn also is a study in the evolution of suburban retailing - the rise of malls that in recent years have had to reinvent themselves to combat e-commerce and stay relevant to get people to visit.
Village officials as well as mall owner, Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate, which launched a comprehensive redevelopment in 2019, describe the shopping center north and west of Milwaukee Avenue and Route 60 as the cornerstone of the village's past and future.
"Hawthorn has been at the heart of the Vernon Hills community for more than five decades, and with the investments and changes we are making to the center today, we expect to continue being that kind of community icon for decades more to come," said Jeff Rutzen, general manager.
As a social center, it was where many mall visitors and employees, including Barth and Niskansen, met their future spouses. For many years, parking could be impossible to find for various events such as Christmas Around the World.
After 50 years, Hawthorn remains a force in a town where the village hall and police headquarters at one time were in the lobby of a local hotel and most official business was conducted at the village clerk's home.
Hawthorn Center was a joint venture of Urban Investment and Development Co., a subsidiary of Aetna Life and Casualty, and Mafco Inc., a subsidiary of Marshall Field & Co. Urban also developed Old Orchard in Skokie, Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook and River Oaks in Calumet City.
The $45 million shopping center was the first part of a larger development including a residential component called New Century Town, a project at the time said to be valued at $250 million. The idea was pitched to Libertyville first, but after officials there balked, it was taken to Vernon Hills.
"They thought it would go away if Libertyville didn't annex it," said former Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler. "That's how Vernon Hills was developed."
In 1971, Vernon Hills annexed a considerable amount of unincorporated area to get to the mall site, which provided ample land for future development.
"The mall put Vernon Hills on the map," said Larry Laschen, hired as police chief in 1973 because of his experience with a similar mall in Greendale, a Milwaukee suburb.
"If Libertyville had taken the mall, Vernon Hills would never be what it is today," added Laschen, who was transitioned to village manager in 1984 and navigated the village's residential and commercial building boom until his retirement in 1998.
Hawthorn Center opened on Sept. 10, 1973, with space for 120 stores. It was then the latest prototype two-level, climate-controlled, enclosed suburban mall.
Marshall Field & Co. (now Macy's) and Sears were the first anchor stores, and there were 15 specialty shops - but no food court or theater. A third anchor, Lord & Taylor, opened in 1975. The first few years were rocky before the mall filled out and business improved.
"Customers would say, 'I like coming to Hawthorn because there's never anybody here.' It wasn't very busy," said Rich Blake, assistant mall manager from 1975 to 1978 and manager until 1983.
Familiar names from the 1980s, include Orange Julius, The Gap, Athlete's Foot, County Seat, Herman's World of Sporting Goods, Musicland, Lady Foot Locker and Waterbed Mart, to name a few.
In 1990, Lord & Taylor was bought by Carson Pirie Scott. JCPenney relocated from Lakehurst mall in Waukegan and built a new store at Hawthorn that opened in 1997.
Melaniphy notes 90% of mall stores turn over every 10 years and owners constantly assess operations as customer habits change.
So it was with Westfield Group, an Australian company that bought the mall in 2002. A $50 million revitalization beginning in 2013 resulted in a 1,200-seat AMC Hawthorn 12 theater, three new mall entrances, a Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant, a Dave & Buster's restaurant/arcade and other improvements.
Centennial bought the shopping center in 2015. Sears and Carson's announced they were closing in 2018 and were demolished to make way for a $252 million redevelopment called Hawthorn 2.0, for which Vernon Hills is providing a $46.5 million incentive. The past and future is on display weekdays at the Transformation Suite on the upper level.
The Sears spot has been transformed into a new mall entry called Hawthorn Row, flanked by luxury apartments and new shops and restaurants. The Carson's space is targeted for more apartments and shops, which will entail removing about 30% of the original mall space.
Blake said his wife-to-be worked at Sears.
"We go by there fairly often," he said. "It was kind of a sad day when they took the wrecking ball to the Sears store."
Barth got him a brick as a memento, he added.