Business & Tech

Simon To Give Orland Square Mall a Facelift

Mall property owners are planning renovations inside and outside the Orland Park shopping center.

For the first time since 1994, Orland Square Mall will be getting a makeover.

Orland Square Mall was selected among a handful of United States shopping centers owned by Simon Properties Group, an international real estate company based in Indianapolis, Ind. and largest property owner in the U.S., to be spruced up. The final number of malls to be worked on and what actual work will be done hasn’t been finalized, though some have speculated as many as 16 malls may be worked on.

The effort will be the first time in 17 years the mall will be renovated, and it will be the first time Simon has opted to do the work since buying the mall in 1997.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Current plans for updating Orland Square Mall include:

  • Extensive redesign of the food court: new main entrance and adjacent fountains, opened up seating areas, porcelain tiles and columns.
  • Rebuilding the four pedestrian entrances with new doors, crosswalks, lighting and landscaping.
  • Carpeted seating areas
  • New tiled floors
  • Swapping the turquoise theme throughout with finished wood accents
  • New children’s play area and a family lounge
  • Renovated bathrooms and new added restrooms
  • New landscaping
  • New road signs near vehicle entrances
  • Repaving of parking areas

“While in 1994, turquoise may have been a hot color, not so much today,” said Ken Brown, Orland Square Mall property manager, during a press conference Wednesday morning.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Renderings with tall columns holding up possible new entrance ways, marked with the mall’s name in black block lettering, were shown during the conference with village officials, as well as with mall store managers and staff. The work itself is expected to begin during summer, with the hope of completing all the work by summer 2012, Brown said.

“It’s no secret that plans have existed over the last couple of years to work on Orland Square Mall,” Brown said after the conference. “Due to economic issues, those plans had to go by the wayside, but now we’re excited to start this.”

Orland Square Mall may not have made the list of locations to be renovated, but pitches made in Indianapolis by village officials sealed the deal, Mayor Dan McLaughlin said. During the conference, McLaughlin described the mall as “the economic engine” for the village.

“We showed them why it would be beneficial to make the place work better and make it more pedestrian friendly,” McLaughlin said.

Orland Park Village Manager Paul Grimes said crews are aiming to complete most of the renovation work before the winter holidays.

“We don’t want work during the shopping season,” Grimes said. “It’s been a long time coming and we think this will be a really great thing for the area.”

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here