Hawthorn, the million-square-foot Vernon Hills shopping center, has been “moved into the 21st century,” Village Senior Trustee Thom Koch Jr. said during a tour of 14 new businesses Thursday, as revised plans for Phase II of redevelopment efforts move ahead.
Koch was one of several officials given a ribbon-cutting tour of the mall. A half-century ago when the mall opened, he was a part-time employee at the mall’s Sears store, one of its original anchor tenants.
The shopping center was built in 1972, and opened in September of 1973. Marshall Field & Co., Sears and Lord & Taylor were the center’s three anchors.
All three have since left, and since 2019 the mall has been investing millions to reinvent itself into “Hawthorn 2.0,” and step away from older traditions of mall design. Today, walking along “Hawthorn Row,” one of the renovated areas, evokes the feeling of the main drag of a town. Streets wind around mixed-use buildings, with businesses on the first floor and luxury apartments above.
The mall almost feels like a “quasi town center,” Koch said.
“Instead of one giant big box, it’s mixed-use — some residential, restaurants and entertainment,” he said. “It’s more diversified.”
Hawthorn General Manager Jack Yejekwe said there are about 120 businesses throughout the shopping center. With paperwork related to Phase II of redevelopment efforts moving through the government approval process, there is more to come, he said.
“It’s a new day,” he said. “We’ve got exciting projects transforming Hawthorn into Hawthorn 2.0. We’re excited to be here and to grow.”
Phase II
Vernon Hills village documents detail the newly proposed, revised plans for Phase II. Centennial Real Estate, which owns the Hawthorn mall, is working with Focus Development on the plans.
The proposed plan would relocate a mixed-use building to the southeast of the mall, creating a retail street similar to Hawthorn Row. The plan would retain 130,000 square feet of existing retail space in the mall core that was previously planned to be demolished.
The new plan would also increase the number of residential units to between 280-290, up from the previous 249. These would be studios; one- two- and three-bedroom apartments, and “townhouse-style” units, according to the documents.
The joint Green Oaks, Libertyville, Mundelein and Vernon Hills Chamber of Commerce President Scott Adams said it has been involved with renovation efforts since the beginning, and praised the project.
“It’s a great transformation,” Adams said. “They’ve got more coming in. When it’s finished, it’ll be another destination for the area.”
