Chicago Tribune: Hawthorn’s redevelopment moves forward in Vernon Hills: ‘Another creative way to do it with … housing attached’

By: Joseph States | Chicago Tribune

Phase Two of Hawthorn 2.0, an extensive redevelopment effort that local officials have described as the mall’s most significant since its opening, will add hundreds of apartment units, matching a growing trend for redeveloping malls across the country.

Related plans recently cleared the Vernon Hills Village Board, and the developers said they plan to begin construction in late spring or early summer of next year, with completion expected in 2028.

The results of the redevelopment’s first phase are already visible: The former location of the mall’s Sears building is now home to an apartment complex, known as the Domaine, featuring more than 300 apartment units and retail shops on the ground floor. A road running through the complex, Hawthorn Row, evokes the feeling of the main drag of a downtown, with streets winding around mixed-use buildings.

According to village documents, Phase Two will add another 290 apartments, just south of the existing complex, as well as 37,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space in mixed-use buildings. Twenty percent of the residential units will be held below market-rate rent, documents said, reserved for households earning up to 60% of the area’s median income.

Justin Pelej, executive vice president of development at Focus, the project’s developer, said the new apartment buildings will be four stories tall and connected by an overhead bridge. Phase Two will also add two new plazas, and retail on the southeast side of the mall will be given outward-facing entrances.

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