Following the latest hot trend in retail development, the 40-some-year-old Louis Joliet Mall will add what is generally known as a “lifestyle center” to its outdoor shopping environment.

Owned by The Westfield Group, the Mall will be providing a type of retail stores being developed in various locations in the Chicago suburbs, including a larger proposed center by another company in Joliet.

These developments are part of a nationwide trend with various types of lifestyle centers which are different than strip malls and large shopping centers. (See related article on page 5.)

In the case of the Joliet Mall, Westfield has received approval from the city of Joliet for an approximately 135,000-square-foot expansion which will incorporate the following key elements:

• Approximately 20 new shops and restaurants in “an outdoor streetscape-style environment integrating shopping, fine dining and family-friendly “zones reminiscent of a community park” on the eastern side of the center between Macy’s and Sears;
• A 14-screen state-of-the-art cinema to be located on the west side between JC Penney and Carson Pirie Scott;
• Renovation of the existing center, including interior common areas, food court upgrade and new mall entrances and landscaping enhancements.

“Combining the best of traditional high fashion retailing with innovative elements such as alfresco dining, leading edge entertainment, unique design and superior amenities is Westfield’s ‘Hy-Style’ approach to redevelopment and reinvestment in its properties,” said Catherine C. Dickey, executive vice president, communications for Westfield. “Hy stands for hybrid—introducing and integrating new elements not previously found in the traditional regional mall format.

“Westfield’s philosophy is to continually invest—and reinvest—in our properties. The plan for Westfield Louis Joliet is a model of that commitment—taking an already strong, productive center and adding key new elements and energy to enhance its appeal, vitality and position as a premiere shopping and entertainment destination for the region.”

Dickey said Westfield hopes to begin construction in the first half of next year and anticipates completion in time for the 2009 holiday shopping center. There are no announcements about tenants at this time.

Dickey said the Westfield Group is the largest retail property group in the world by equity market capitalization and the ninth largest entity listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The Group has interests in an investment portfolio of 119 shopping centers valued in excess of $53.2 billion and located in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the U.S. currently Westfield has approximately $900 million in reinvestment underway at three centers and four others in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Washington.

In the first half of this year, Westfield completed $230 million in redevelopment at centers in Florida, New Jersey and Ohio. Globally, the company’s development activity includes 16 major projects currently under construction with an estimated total cost of $6 billion.

In addition to the Louis Joliet Mall, Westfield projects in the Chicago area include Fox Valley in Aurora, Westfield Chicago Ridge in Chicago Ridge, Old Orchard in Skokie, Hawthorne in Vernon Hills, Northbridge in Chicago, and Southlake in Hobart, Ind. Dickey said those shopping areas are in various stages of study about adding lifestyle areas.

The proposed expansion of the Joliet mall is not unlike what has happened at Lombard’s Yorktown, where boutique and “lifestyle” stores and specialty restaurants are currently opening on the west end of the mall where a Montgomery Wards once stood as one of the center’s four big box anchors.

Rival center planned

Westfield is expected to have a lifestyle competitor in the future in Joliet. The Bridge Street Town Centre is proposed for the intersection of I-55 and I-80 where an estimated 266,400 vehicle pass every day, according to information on the Web site of the developer.

The Web site of O&S Holdings calls the development a regional mixed-use lifestyle center with specialty and big box retail, movie theatre, restaurants, entertainment, office, hotel and residential components totaling more than 3 million square-feet that includes:

• 1.5 million square-feet of retail stores and restaurants;
• 800 multi- and single-family residential units; and
• 200,000 square-feet of office space.

There was no other information available from the company. Chris Shane, a vice president of acquisitions for O&S, said it had not made a public announcement yet about the proposed Joliet development.

The O&S proposal was mentioned during hearings this summer by the city of Joliet about a proposal to build a new road to connect with I-55.

Also noting that there was no formal public release of information on the site plan about The Bridge Street Town Centre was Don Fisher, planning director for the city of Joliet.

“We are still negotiating,” he said. “We have been working with O&S for about a year since we met them at a meeting of the International Council of Shopping Centers. Public hearings are expected to be held in the coming months.

“We are progressing on this big, complicated proposal which includes providing access from I-55. The staff is excited about this proposal which involves 300 acres on the northeast corner of I-55 and I-80.”

Fisher said the proposal is still in a state of flux, but it involves about 1 million square-feet of lifestyle space and about another 600,000 square-feet of other stores, including traditional big box retailers.

“We like the lifestyle center concept because that is what many retailers and shoppers are looking for,” he said. “It is a shopping style which goes back to the past but with modern aspects also. It is like a downtown area with a movie theater, restaurants and smaller boutique shops.”

Fisher said he did not think there would be a negative impact on downtown Joliet, which lost a number of stores in the 1970s and 1980s. Now, he said, the downtown is a different type of commerce center.

He also expects that with a quarter million people in the Joliet area, there’s enough of a market for not only the Louis Joliet Mall and its expansion but also the proposed Bridge Street Town Centre.

One shopping area which could be affected, Fisher said, is west suburban Oak Brook, to which many people from Joliet drive to shop.