Redevelopment project at Yorktown mall up for a key vote

Lombard trustees are expected to vote later this month on a zoning request that would pave the way for a developer to tear down the former Carson's department store at Yorktown Center and build hundreds of apartments.

Pacific Retail Capital Partners, the owner of the core mall property, and Chicago-based Synergy Construction Group have teamed up for a proposed redevelopment valued at more than $200 million.

The project calls for replacing all-but-dead mall space with a five-story apartment complex called Yorktown Reserve. The vacant Carson's anchor store would be demolished to make way for a public plaza between the mall and apartments. The mall facade around the grassy plaza also would get an updated look.

"In the next few years, we're going to be able to redefine the experience of living near and visiting Yorktown by creating a really unique entertainment, retail and residential experience," Lombard Trustee Bernie Dudek said.

In industry lingo, part of the shopping center would be "de-malled." It's an increasingly common strategy as housing, entertainment and restaurants eat up retail space in the age of online shopping. Yorktown opened in 1968, about four years after Oakbrook Center in neighboring Oak Brook.

"It's going to be a whole new community over there eventually. It's getting there, but it's come a long way," Lombard Trustee Brian LaVaque said. "Brick-and-mortar (retail) is dying," he added, "and we've got to get creative with this type of space that we have. So Oak Brook, move over."

Yorktown Reserve is slated to include 621 apartments spread across two buildings east of Highland Avenue and the mall's Majestic Drive entrance. The residential buildings would be developed in two phases.

Demolishing the department store would create a gaping hole in the side of the hulking mall. As part of the project, the development team would build a new exterior facade adjacent to the parklike plaza. That work is intended to make the enclosed mall more outward-facing and accessible - not unlike The Shops on Butterfield, an extension of Yorktown, but with more convenient parking and a walkable streetscape.

Yorktown owners also plan to reposition approximately 36,000 square feet of retail space, Lombard Community Development Director William Heniff said.

"Specific tenants have not been identified yet," Heniff said. "But one of the big reasons why this project is moving forward is to stimulate additional activity at the mall in and of itself."

Trustees are expected to vote on May 18 on whether to grant zoning relief for the project. Several trustees have expressed informal support for the concept.

"I think this is a very exciting next step in the continued evolution of Yorktown shopping center," Dudek said.

The village and developers also are negotiating an economic incentive package. Once the agreement is completed, officials will place the incentive proposal on a future village board agenda. The village would not provide upfront assistance; rather the incentives would be "performance-based," among other parameters.

If the board approves the zoning entitlements, demolition work could begin this summer.