Randhurst Shopping Center in Mount Prospect was unusual when it opened.

Not only was it one of the first enclosed shopping areas and regional malls when it was built in 1962, but it included a bomb shelter large enough to hold all the people in the village.

Even the redevelopment plans for the 100-acre property are unusual because some stores in the main mall building will remain open while other parts are torn down.

Stores in out lot locations (on the property but not connected to the main building) will also remain open.

The former bomb shelter will be used as a parking garage for new residential units. Now it will be designed to hold about 500 vehicles instead of the 20,000 people in Mount Prospect at the time the mall opened. Now there are about 58,000 people in the village.

The new residential units as well as a hotel will be constructed above the new retail buildings, which will be located in the core area where a two-level structure will be demolished.

The mall will be replaced with an open lifestyle mixed-use center and be renamed Randhurst Village.

This concept, which has taken various forms in other Chicago suburbs and around the country, includes stores in open areas with landscaping and parking closer to the businesses than usually found in an enclosed mall. Industry observers have said the concept is designed to include features of both an enclosed mall and a strip shopping center.

A new AMC 18-screen cinema will replace the existing theater and, when completed, will anchor the lifestyle portion of the project.

During the reconstruction, tenants such as Carson Pirie Scott, AMC Cinema, Home Depot, Jewel-Osco, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Steve & Barry’s will remain open.

Working around tenants which remain open makes Randhurst different, according to Bret Hutchens, president and CIO of Casto Lifestyle Properties in Sarasota, Fla. He said it represents a different challenge than when all the buildings are taken down.

Casto picked Randhurst as its first project in Illinois, Hutchens said, because his company has an existing partnership with J.P. Morgan, who was the sole owner of Randhurst.

“They asked us to take a look at it. We liked the prospects of redevelopment because it is an obsolete property in a good location,” Hutchens said. “There are many obsolete properties which were built in the 1960s and 1970s.”

Not a lot will happen in the next few months at Randhurst, he said, because architects are still drawing up plans. The redevelopment is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2010.

The plans for the redevelopment and possible financing options have not been approved yet by the village. William Cooney, community development director for Mount Prospect, said Casto is expected to submit preliminary plans this spring for a planned unit development.

The net square footage of space will be about the same as the existing mall of 1.335 million square-feet of building, but in a different configuration, according to Cooney. The specific tenants have not been named, but the village official said there is expected to be a white tablecloth restaurant included among the new tenants.

The redevelopment of Randhurst Shopping Center is very important to Mount Prospect because it is the largest shopping center in the community, Cooney said. He also noted that the “new” Randhurst will help the village’s other business districts by raising the profile and visibility of the community.

“We have not gone through the public process yet. But I have heard nothing by positive comments by people in the community,” Cooney said. “There may be some people who don’t want to see changes, because of the many memories they have. It is a key landmark.”

Redevelopment of the center is important from an economic and an image standpoint, according to the village official. He said the trend in retail is toward more lifestyle centers.

“So, we’re hoping we’ll have something that, when completed, will once again represent a large draw for the entire region.”

Within a five-mile radius the current population is estimated at 321,541 people within 124,631 households. There are an estimated 230,525 people working within five miles of Randhurst.

As part of the redevelopment process, Cooney said there have been preliminary discussions about the village possibly participating in the financing. Options could include raising the sales tax, a hotel tax and an entertainment tax as well as creating a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.

The village official mentioned that a TIF district was created for the downtown in 1983. At the end of 23 years the equalized assessed valuation (EAV) had gone from about $7 million to somewhere between $40 and $45 million. One argument against a TIF is that taxes are frozen for 23 years. But the counter argument to that position is that EAV might have gone down if there weren’t a TIF, Cooney explained.

The idea of redeveloping Randhurst is exciting because it will put the Mount Prospect community back in the forefront like it was in the early days of the shopping center, said Jim Uszler, executive director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce.

It was a unique shopping center, he said, because it was one of the first enclosed malls.

“Now we can be back in the forefront with a transition to a mixed-use lifestyle development, which is the trend in shopping centers,” Uszler said.

As for its economic impact, Uszler said “It is hard to estimate. But I feel confident that it will be very positive for the village, not just Randhurst.”

He does not believe it will hurt the revitalized downtown area.

“We have gone through the process a few years ago and now have new businesses in downtown, which has become more of an entertainment area.”