The Brickyard
Map
LocationChicago, Illinois, United States
Coordinates41°55′39″N 87°47′20″W / 41.92760635390614°N 87.78892029842555°W / 41.92760635390614; -87.78892029842555[1]
Address2600 North Narragansett Avenue
Opening date1977; 47 years ago (1977)
DeveloperMaisel and Associates
ManagementCBRE Group
OwnerCBRE Group
No. of stores and services100+ (original mall)
No. of anchor tenants3
Total retail floor area876,000 square feet (81,400 m2) (original mall)[2]
261,369 square feet (24,282.0 m2) (current mall)[3]
No. of floors3 (original mall)
1 (current mall)
Public transit accessBus interchange CTA

The Brickyard, sometimes known as the Brickyard Mall, is a shopping mall located in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Built in 1977 as an enclosed shopping mall featuring J. C. Penney, Kmart, and Montgomery Ward, it was redeveloped in 2003 as a strip mall. The center's anchor stores are Jewel, Target, Marshalls, and Lowe's. The Brickyard is owned and managed by CBRE Group.[3]

History

Maisel and Associates, a real estate company based out of Southfield, Michigan, worked with local developer Harry Chaddick to develop The Brickyard. Their research determined a need for a shopping mall on the northwestern side of Chicago, Illinois. The center was named The Brickyard because it was formerly on the site of a brickyard for the Carey Brick Company.[4] It was also the site of a former ski resort. Due to the elevation of the hill, the development of the mall is divided into sections. The first section of the mall to open was a "convenience center" featuring a Jewel supermarket and a Kmart discount store on either side of a strip mall. This section of the mall opened in 1977 while the second phase, a 100-store enclosed mall with Montgomery Ward and J. C. Penney, opened in 1979.[4] Carson Pirie Scott was also considered for a third anchor store to the mall, but Maisel was unable to secure a lease for the chain.[5]

As the shopping mall did not encompass the entirety of the former brickyard, portions of it remained vacant until 1983, when the city of Chicago acquired a $10,000,000 grant to demolish the remaining unused portions of the former brickyard and sell the lot to Maisel and Associates for future mall expansion.[6] MetLife bought the mall from Maisel and Associates in December 1986 for an undisclosed price. At the time, The Brickyard was 99 percent leased. As part of the acquisition, an adjacent strip mall called Bricktown Square also began immediately to the south; this center included Toys "R" Us, Frank's Nursery & Crafts, Sport Mart sporting goods store, and a six-screen cinema owned by Plitt Theatres.[7]

In 1997, the Kmart at The Brickyard was the first in the Chicago area to be renovated into that chain's "Big Kmart" concept, which included a small grocery section.[8] Despite this change, the mall saw a rapid decrease in tenancy at the end of the 20th century due to the bankruptcies of Kmart and Montgomery Ward, combined with the closure of J. C. Penney. By 2003, the mall was nearly 80 percent vacant, so the city council approved a $100,000,000 redevelopment plan to demolish the structure. Opening in its place would be a strip mall with Target and Lowe's, along with a relocated Jewel supermarket.[9]

Whitehall Fund, which redeveloped the mall, sold it in 2004 to Inland Real Estate except for the Lowe's and Target stores, which were sold to those respective chains.[10] The Brickyard is owned by CBRE Group.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Brickyard Mall Shopping Center". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 15 May 1997.
  2. ^ Directory of major malls. MJJTM Publications Corp. 1990. p. 200.
  3. ^ a b c "The Brickyard". CBRE Group. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Bonita Brodt (November 22, 1979). "Tale of two shopping city areas-- boom and pinch". Chicago Tribune. p. 8. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  5. ^ "Penney's, Carson's may anchor B'yard mall". News Journal. March 24, 1977. p. 1. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  6. ^ Casey Bukro (May 25, 1983). "Dumpers beat developers to vacant site". Chicago Tribune. p. 2. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  7. ^ David Ibata (December 22, 1986). "Metropolitan buys Brickyard". Chicago Tribune. p. 4. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  8. ^ "Big Kmarts no little conversions". Chicago Tribune. April 24, 1997. p. 3. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  9. ^ "Chicago commission backs $100 million rehab of mall". Chicago Tribune. January 15, 2003. p. 10. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  10. ^ "$90 million sale deal caps Brickyard turnaround". Chicago Tribune. October 20, 2004. p. 3. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
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