Westfield Old Orchard Mall Redevelopment Plan Gets Final Approval From Skokie Trustees

Developers included some affordable units, but fewer than required by an ordinance that passed after the $100 million project was proposed.

John Meadows | Patch

SKOKIE, IL — Village trustees granted final approval Monday to plans for the two-phase redevelopment of Old Orchard Mall in Skokie.

The village board voted 6-1 to approve the site plan and subdivision for the $100 million project to add up to 800 apartments the shopping center, which is owned by Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, also known as URW or Westfield.

The redevelopment’s first phase will replace the former Bloomingdale’s with five- and seven-story buildings containing more than 400 apartments, 16,000 square feet of retail and a public event space. The second phase includes additional apartments, with either a hotel or residential tower and a parking garage at the mall's north end.

URW, which has partnered with Focus Development on the project, committed to making 3.5 percent of the residential units affordable, even though it was proposed before the village approved an inclusionary housing ordinance. That comes out to 15 apartments in the first phase. The number in the second phase will depend on whether the hotel is included.

Read the full article from Patch.