The 50-year journey of a Chicagoland Mall
The half-century-long story of Hawthorn, a super-regional center in the northern Chicagoland suburb of Vernon Hills, reads like a sample case history of the American mall.
When it opened in 1973, it was anchored by Marshall Field’s and Sears. Lord & Taylor arrived in 1975. A food court appeared in 1982 and, in 1984, it began staging regular events in its center court. JCPenney arrived with its newest department store footprint in 1996. Barnes and Noble opened for business next to Carson Pirie Scott on the mall’s south end in 2000.
Today, those heralded retail brands are all gone. Hawthorn Mall was acquired in 2016 by the forward-thinking regional center operator Centennial, which also purchased the Sears space and marked it and the old Carson Pirie Scott building for redevelopment.
Centennial rebranded the property as simply “Hawthorn.” Domaine at Hawthorn Row, a 311-unit apartment complex that will include “best-in-class amenities,” is under construction on the property in Vernon Hills, which sports an average household income of $108,000. The recently completed, open-air Hawthorn Row streetscape is also currently being filled with retail, dining, and entertainment tenants, according to Centennial.
A 15,000-sq.-ft. indoor Center Park gathering space is also planned that will hold a café and wine bar plus a landscaped gathering space lined with lawn games and soft seating.
More than 100,000 sq. ft. of interior space is yet to be removed to create new retail uses, and ground will soon break on another 250-unit luxury apartment complex with 27,000 sq. ft. of retail that will include a grocery anchor.
“There is nothing cookie-cutter about what is to come,” said Sam Whitebread, Centennial’s VP of tenant coordination and construction. “These changes will maintain the essence of what Hawthorn has been to the Vernon Hills community for nearly half a century, but they will also breathe new life into the center and attract some of the most coveted retailers in the industry.”
Centennial will celebrate Hawthorn’s 50th anniversary on September 9th with food trucks and live music. At the start of the event, attendees will be asked to gather at the outer northeast parking lot and walk as a group toward Main Street and the center’s brand-new Hawthorn Row.
Along the way will be posted throwback photographs of the stately center submitted by locals in a contest for a $500 shopping spree. The parade will also see mannequins dressed in the most popular fashion trends from the Seventies forward.
“This center has stood the test of time through economic growth, recessions, and even COVID,” said Hawthorn’s general manager Jeff Rutzen. “Being in business 50 years is an incredible feat.”