A Kmart closure has Illinois town mulling new opportunity

Many American communities see the closing of a long-successful department store as a tragedy. Town officials of Oak Lawn, Illinois, see it as an opportunity.



“It is a great location and I think its future…can be very, very bright and strong, and so does the owner of the property,” village manager Larry Deetjen said of the shopping center at 95th Street and Pulaski Road in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.



Sears Holdings announced last month that the Kmart store anchoring the property would be closed, but Oak Lawn’s planning commission tagged the property as prime for redevelopment in 2014. Town planners are considering going vertical with a development combining residential and retail. They have shared a list of interested retailers with Kimco Realty, owner of the site.



Out-parcels such as Chuck E. Cheese’s and LongHorn Steakhouse are successful, say Oak Lawn officials, and they look forward to more of the same in redeveloped property.



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