A town in Illinois is trying to Bring a “Dead Mall” back to Life

Is this the future of forgotten and abandoned malls in the US? Check out what a town in the Land of Lincoln plans on doing with the dead mall in their town.

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According to an article from Axios Chicago, Bloomingdale, Illinois, hopes to bring its mall back from the dead and give it new life by converting it into a restaurant and entertainment destination. In the article, they say...

"The Bloomingdale shopping center is considered a dead mall. Its directory lists over 125 stores, but when we visited on a recent weekday, only two or three were open...The Bloomingdale Village Board purchased Stratford Square Mall earlier this month for $8.75 million. The village has plans to redevelop the mall into more of a community gathering place, with restaurants and entertainment venues."

That is all good news for the village of Bloomingdale, but it's not the only way towns are dealing with "dead malls" The article goes on to mention (the mall I went to as a kid all the time) Spring Hill Mall in the suburb of West Dundee. Spring Hill Mall will be demolished and the space it was on will be used for mixed-use housing with some dining and shopping options as well. To read more about the future of "dead malls" in Illinois, click here!

New Life or Tear Down?

I feel like both options are valid! Here in Quincy, the Quincy Mall has become the Quincy Town Center and is undergoing more of a transition to events rather than a shopping destination. I would personally like to see that happen more with the Quincy Town Center, keep making it a place for restaurants and events, along with the movie theatre and the hospital. But in some cases with the Spring Hill Mall, because I know where that is located it makes total sense to me to tear it down and turn that space into something different. Either way doing something is better than doing nothing, letting buildings fall into despair and become eye sores is the worst option.