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Northfield Square mall is now under the ownership of the village of Bradley.
At exactly 4:20 p.m. Friday, the acquisition of the long-troubled retail location was transferred to the village on the previously agreed upon price of $6.5 million with Namdar Realty Group, of Great Neck, N.Y.
The village, through its economic development agency, will likely meet with the site’s occupants and set forth how the location will be managed, Mayor Mike Watson said.
“This was really never in doubt,” Watson said of the agreement. “It was just when and for how much.”
He described this purchase as a major milestone for the continued development of Bradley’s economy.
Watson said there will certainly be those who question what steps they are taking, but he said for the long-term development of Bradley, the acreage where the mall sits – which the administrations considers as vital – must be strategically used.
Watson said village residents have also been clear they want development. He said the fact residents have supported increases in the sales tax rates have demonstrated they support the direction they are taking.
The Bradley administration had previously purchased two of the mall’s four anchor store locations, having bought the former Carson’s Men’s Store and the former JCPenney site.
The purchase is far from the village’s desire to get into the sale of men’s and women’s clothing, pretzels or jewelry. The village has its sights set on the mall and its 59 acres surrounding it as the location for a major Midwest-based, 2-acre indoor water park.
The village has discussed plans to incorporate the mall’s “spine,” meaning its center portion, as part of its planned entertainment and retail development to work in conjunction with the water park.
The village will ramp up plans for water park development, with the target of a late 2027 opening. The park could carry with it a $70-million to $75-million price tag, much of which will eventually be repaid through the village’s business district tax.
Opened in August 1990, Northfield never fully took off. It was opened at a time when the enclosed mall era was beginning to lose its popularity with retailers.
The mall eventually went through a couple different ownership, the final one being Namdar which purchased it for $9.6 million in July 2016.
While Bradley’s previous administration, along with other community and economic development leaders worked to establish a relationship with Namdar and impress upon the company how critical this location was to the success of Kankakee County, little changed.
As major retailers – chief among them Sears and Carson’s – announced plans to exit Northfield, the village began to face life with an approximate 530,000-square-foot complex in the heart of its growing retail district becoming vacant.
It was often referred to the hole in the center of a donut.
Watson raised more than a few eyebrows in December 2019 when he purchased the former 80,000-square-foot Carson’s Men’s store location at an auction, paying $1.1 million.
He followed the acquisition with a second purchase in June 2021 when he acquired the former JCPenney store site for $577,500.
He then set his sights on the entire complex and began to formulate development concepts for what the mall and its surrounding property could become.
In 2024, the Bradley administration made its desire clear it was setting a course to purchase the entire property. Watson said there were ongoing talks with Namdar in search of an agreeable sale price.
The two sides eventually settled on the $6.5-million figure. Bradley then had a site review completed to determine there were no unexpected structural problems.