On Sunday, the Windy City’s last JCPenney closed its doors for good, and on Monday, so will the Ford City Mall.
A Cook County judge’s signature brought an end to Ford City Mall’s 61-year run along South Cicero Avenue on the Southwest Side when the judge made an emergency order to vacate the mall official in May.
The City of Chicago filed the emergency order to vacate after the Chicago Fire Department confirmed the mall’s fire suppression system hadn’t worked in two years, along with a host of other structural issues.
“I feel like this should be a busier mall,” one last-minute shopper told WGN-TV. “It doesn’t feel like it should be closing down.”
Ford City Mall opened its doors in 1965 after being built on the site of a World War II defense plant. During its infancy, the mall was anchored by Carson Pirie Scott, JCPenney and Sears.
But one by one, staple stores left the mall, with vacancies recently hitting 54%, and JCPenney was the last staple standing until Sunday.
“It was like an every weekend type of thing,” said Carla Salvador, another last-minute Ford City Mall shopper. “We would spend family time together here.”
As for what’s next for the shell of the Ford City Mall, a Chicago-based developer wants to buy the land and demolish the mall. In its place, the developer wants to build warehouses that they purport will bring up to 5,400 jobs to the area.
However, some residents with the Southwest Action Network have launched a petition that pushes local leaders to build a park or YMCA in the place of Ford City Mall.
