Vendors want nine months to move out of the Elgin Shopping Mall before it closes, and they are hoping they can strike a deal with the property owner, a spokesman said.
Giving the 80 or so business owners who lease space inside the 308 S. Mclean Blvd. building until the end of August to vacate is not enough time, said Jose Manuel Verastegui, whose family owns a shop inside the mall.
The tenants have formed a new corporation, known as Elgin Mall, and they will be allowed to remain while they work out a deal.
“We are hoping for a contract. We are in negotiations,” Verastegui said.
The management company notified the businesses last week that the property owner was taking back possession of the building and they would have about four weeks to leave.
The property owner, whose name has not been disclosed, has not “indicated what plans they have for the property,” the letter to the business owners said. “Elgin Shopping Mall Inc. regrets the decision of the landlord as the same not only affected the tenant but many subtenants.”
Most of the tenants are technically subtenants who had leases for mall space with the management company. Forming the corporation allows all of those with businesses in the building to stand as one entity and negotiate a deal that gives them more time, Verastegui said.
“I’m very unhappy,” he said. “There are many lives on pause not knowing what to do or what will happen.”
Speaking at a meeting this week, Verastegui told the business owners, “We’re not working with management. We don’t have anyone in the middle anymore.”
They should continue to pay their rent and each will have to register their business with the state of Illinois and the city of Elgin, Verastegui said. They’ll also also need to have a certificate of insurance, he said.
Representatives from Illinois Latino Small Business Partnership and the Northwest Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and state Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, were on hand at the meeting to assist with the process.
“We’re going to help as much as we can. If you have questions, we are here,” Castro said.
Verastegui emphasized that they must stand as one, a message that received applause.
“We have a lot to do,” he said. “We will be the new Elgin Mall legally after Aug. 31. It is all of us.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
