Shuttered Macy’s store in Spring Hill Mall to be purchased by village of West Dundee

The West Dundee Village Board will vote on a proposal Monday to buy the former Macy’s department store at Spring Hill Mall for $1.25 million, Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said.

If approved, the village will close on the deal in June. Money from the community development fund will be used for the purchase, Cavallaro said.

Macy’s acquired the property in 2005 from now-defunct retailer Marshall Field & Co., which operated one of the original anchor stores when the mall opened in 1981, according to village information. Macy’s closed its store there in 2021, and the property has been vacant and for sale since then.

Village President Chris Nelson said ownership of the 8.6-acre property is key to West Dundee being a partner in future redevelopment of the mall, which has just one anchor store remaining and has been struggling with store vacacies.

“The acquisition is necessary to ensure we are a stakeholder in any discussions to revitalize the mall site and its future beyond retail,” Nelson said.

The complex nature of mall real estate requires West Dundee’s involvement in order to make potential new uses of the property attractive to developers, he said.

Many failing malls have found new life as multiuse developments that combine retail with residential, office and recreational uses.

While the village has no specific plans for the former Macy’s store, Nelson noted it was built in the early 1980s and is mostly obsolete in terms of what it can be used for today. Demolition is more than likely in its future, he said.

There are covenants for the Macy’s property involving access to Route 72, he said, and village ownership will help simplify steps related to that and other factors impacting new development.

“Almost uniformly, each developer with whom we’ve talked to about redevelopment has told us that the site has too many complications, too many owners, too many covenants and too many uncertainties,” Nelson said. “The village’s aim is to bring simplicity to the process so reliable developers with established track records will be interested in partnering to reformat the area. Without municipal intervention, that simply won’t happen.”

About three-quarters of Spring HIll Mall is located in West Dundee, and the rest is in Carpentersville. Nelson said the mall is mostly vacant.

Kohl’s owns the only still-open anchor store, which is in the Carpentersville portion of the mall.

The former Sears store is owned by Transformco of Hoffman Estates and Kohan Real Estate of Great Neck, New York, has control of the former Carson’s store and the rest of the indoor mall, including the Cinemark movie theater, according to village documents.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.