Vacant Food Court - "River Oaks Center" Calumet City, IL
The open-air River Oak Center opened on October 3, 1966, and was developed by KLC Ventures, a partnership between Philip M. Klutznick and his son Tom. The elder Klutznick had developed Park Forest, Illinois, after World War II, as well as Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook in 1959 and Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie in 1956.
River Oaks originally opened with one minor and two major department stores. The original anchors were Marshall Field's, (275,000- ft2), Sears (347,000 ft2), and a branch of the Hammond, IN based Edward C. Minas Company (56,000 ft2). JMB Real Estate Group would soon acquire the mall along with most of the Klutznick properties, including Old Orchard.
Edward C. Minas became Carson's on October 6, 1982. and JCPenney moved their store to the mall from downtown Hammond, IN in 1985, opening on October 2nd alongside a mall expansion. In March 1993, the mall owners announced that River Oaks was to be enclosed and the new modern mall opened for business in September 1994.
Oakbrook, Illinois-based JMB Urban Properties and the Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group established a joint venture ownership deal involving four Chicagoland malls; River Oaks Center, Hawthorn Center, Fox Valley Center, and Orland Square mall
In November 1997, this arrangement terminated with Simon assuming 100 percent ownership of River Oaks and Orland Square, and JMB Urban keeping full control of Fox Valley and Hawthorn Center.
River Oaks was amongst several C-D tier malls that Simon would spin off into Washington Prime Group, who would later unload the mall. The property is currently owned by Namdar. Calumet City has gone through a massive demographic change since the mall was enclosed and looks a little worse for the wear, as do the massive and vacant big boxes around it.
Vacant Food Court - "River Oaks Center" Calumet City, IL
The open-air River Oak Center opened on October 3, 1966, and was developed by KLC Ventures, a partnership between Philip M. Klutznick and his son Tom. The elder Klutznick had developed Park Forest, Illinois, after World War II, as well as Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook in 1959 and Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie in 1956.
River Oaks originally opened with one minor and two major department stores. The original anchors were Marshall Field's, (275,000- ft2), Sears (347,000 ft2), and a branch of the Hammond, IN based Edward C. Minas Company (56,000 ft2). JMB Real Estate Group would soon acquire the mall along with most of the Klutznick properties, including Old Orchard.
Edward C. Minas became Carson's on October 6, 1982. and JCPenney moved their store to the mall from downtown Hammond, IN in 1985, opening on October 2nd alongside a mall expansion. In March 1993, the mall owners announced that River Oaks was to be enclosed and the new modern mall opened for business in September 1994.
Oakbrook, Illinois-based JMB Urban Properties and the Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group established a joint venture ownership deal involving four Chicagoland malls; River Oaks Center, Hawthorn Center, Fox Valley Center, and Orland Square mall
In November 1997, this arrangement terminated with Simon assuming 100 percent ownership of River Oaks and Orland Square, and JMB Urban keeping full control of Fox Valley and Hawthorn Center.
River Oaks was amongst several C-D tier malls that Simon would spin off into Washington Prime Group, who would later unload the mall. The property is currently owned by Namdar. Calumet City has gone through a massive demographic change since the mall was enclosed and looks a little worse for the wear, as do the massive and vacant big boxes around it.