Westfield Old Orchard

Westfield Old Orchard

Location	Skokie, Illinois, United States
Coordinates	42°3′33″N 87°44′58″W / 42.05917°N 87.74944°W / 42.05917; -87.74944
Opening date	October, 1956
Developer	Philip Morris Klutznick
Management	Westfield Group
Owner	Westfield Group
No. of stores and services	140
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	1.8 million ft²
No. of floors	1
Website	http://westfield.com/oldorchard

Westfield Old Orchard, formerly Old Orchard Shopping Center, is an open-air upscale shopping center in Skokie, Illinois. It is the third largest mall by total square footage in Illinois.^[1] Its anchor stores are Bloomingdale's, Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's), Lord & Taylor, L.L. Bean and Nordstrom. It recently underwent a $50 million expansion and reconfiguring that opened in late 2007.^[2]

Marshall Field's was officially renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.

History

In response to post-World War II suburban expansion, developer Philip Morris Klutznick commissioned Loebl Schlossman and Bennett (now Loebl Schlossman and Hackl) to design Old Orchard Shopping Center at a site with easy access to the new Edens Expressway, which had been constructed to serve suburban dwellers. Old Orchard Shopping Center was first opened in 1956, with Marshall Field's and the The Fair Department Store. The architect's original design treated the center as a community, creating a series of walkways that turned storefronts inward rather than facing them to the parking areas. The irregular mall plan encouraged shoppers to stroll along a path of new discovery with each turn, reflecting the perception of shopping as a social event. Since many prospective merchants wanted to be near Marshall Field's, the anchor was placed in the center of the site. The Fair was bought by Montgomery Ward in 1957 and renamed in 1964. The expansion, redevelopment, and remerchandising of Old Orchard Shopping Center, completed September 1, 1995, has completely transformed the mall that North Shore residents have known since 1956. A major portion of the remerchandising was the addition of a Nordstrom department store in 1994 and Bloomingdale's in September 1995. The shopping center remained open-air and did not enclose to form a traditional shopping mall as so many others did.

The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 2002 in the breakup of previous owner Urban Shopping Centers, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Old Orchard", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. In July 2005, Saks Fifth Avenue closed their store. After initially proposing a massive expansion and reconfiguration, Westfield instead began a more scaled-down $60 million project in July 2006, demolishing the former Saks store in the process. The addition opened late in 2007. Today, Old Orchard is home to more than 170 stores and restaurants.

List of anchors

• Bloomingdale's
• Lord & Taylor
• Macy's
• Nordstrom
• L.L.Bean
• Regal Entertainment Group-Gardens 13 (with 1-6 to the west and 7-13 to the east)

List of former anchors

• Marshall Field's (renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006 after Federated Department Stores, May Department Stores merger)
• Montgomery Ward
• Saks Fifth Avenue

Select List of non-anchor establishments

• Anthropologie
• The Apple Store
• Aveda
• California Pizza Kitchen
• The Cheesecake Factory
• Core Power Yoga
• Marbles: The Brain Store
• Potbelly Sandwich Works
• Restoration Hardware
• Swarovski
• Tiffany & Co.
• Victoria's Secret

List of expansions

• 1959 Saks Fifth Avenue opens
• 1978 Saks Fifth Avenue expands to larger store
• 1979 Lord & Taylor opens
• 1993 Lord & Taylor expands to larger store
• 1994 Nordstrom opens
  • 242,000 square feet (22,500 m²) of new specialty retail (including the Cineplex Odeon Theaters)
  • Parking deck—five levels, 1,150 vehicle capacity
• 1995 Bloomingdale's opens
  • 154,000 square feet (14,300 m²) of new specialty retail
  • 600 seat-food court
  • Parking deck—six levels, 2,200 vehicle capacity
  • Future CTA Yellow Line terminal

Bomb threat of March 1, 2008

On the evening of March 1, 2008, Skokie police shut down and evacuated the Macy's and Nordstrom anchors after a man with a backpack was spotted walking around suspiciously, then leaving without the backpack. Cook County bomb squad was called in to search the mall, but found nothing. [2]

See also

• Westfield Group

References

1. ^ "Illinois: Top 10 Shopping Centers". CoStar Realty. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fnrbonline.com%2FIndustryInfo%2FStateTopTen%2FState.aspx%3Fid%3DIL&btnG=Google+Search. Retrieved 2006-11-25. 
2. ^ [1] Chicagobusiness.com

External links

• Official Westfield Old Orchard website