McHenry Plaza shopping center filled with new tenants, under different ownership after years of vacancies

For the first time in years in more than five years, the McHenry Plaza shopping center is set to be completely full of open business tenants in 2022, according to its new landlord.

A $2.3 million sale this fall of the commercial property – which consists of 13 business units, six of which had long been empty – put it into the hands of new ownership, McHenry County records show.

It’s now controlled by a group called Brookwood Capital Advisors that specializes in purchasing shopping centers with high rates of vacancy and refilling them, its leaders said.

“This is the first time in over five years that the plaza has been filled completely to full capacity,” said Lydia Chernitsky Hamd, Brookwood’s director of leasing. “Even before then, there were some units that were left vacant or tenants going in and out. So this is the first time in quite some time that the whole plaza is not only filled but filled with local businesses that may not have had the same opportunity with the previous landlord to get into the plaza.”

It is unclear from public records documenting the recent sale who the previous landlord was; the sale records show it was sold by Chicago Title Land Trust acting as trustee for a trust whose beneficiaries are unknown.

But McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett said last month the shopping center’s last ownership previously was at risk of losing the tenant American Freight furniture, appliance and mattress retailer.

That and the Applebees, BMO Harris Bank branch, McHenry Liquor store, Great Cuts and the nail salon still are in place under the new ownership.

Joining those existing businesses will be a Fitness 1440 workout center owned by Mayson Steele, who will be opening his fourth gym of that brand and the chain’s first in Illinois. He plans to include a smoothie bar and a sauna in the facility.

“We’re very excited. ... This one here will be our main hub for the Midwest,” Steele said, adding the chain is looking to expand within the region.

The other new commercial tenants include a quality consignment resale store called Flips N’ Finds, a pet care business, an axe throwing lounge, a convention center that can be used for various events and a business called Fitagogy focused on improving cognition, focus, intellect and academic performance by integrating studies with fitness activities.

There will also be a business called Ultimate Convention Company that will operate a space that can be transformed to host different types of vendor-based events and markets. It has scheduled a tattoo show on Jan. 29, a fish and aquatic show on Feb. 5, an art show for Feb. 26, and a home and garden show on March 19, according to a business Facebook page.

City officials are thrilled the property has been fully leased again.

“Obviously we are very excited to finally see some traction in this center as it has remained vacant for many years,” McHenry Community Development Director Ross Polerecky said.

The McHenry Plaza tenants are filling the property just as redevelopment work has begun right in front of the former Stock and Field retail outlet, just north of the formerly vacant spaces now owned by Brookwood.

The construction will bring new structures that will host a dental care office and urgent medical care clinic, as well as a drive-thru restaurant space, right in front of the former Stock and Field, while the main shopping structure will be turned into a self-storage facility.

Those new commercial spaces are going up after Stock and Field closed the doors of all its stores early this year.

The McHenry City Council approved the repurposing of that spot and the addition of the new outbuildings in April, with hopes that activity could rejuvenate interest in the long-vacant portions of the McHenry Commons shopping center to the north, where a former Kmart store that had been used as a vaccination site during the COVID-19 pandemic this year has remained unfilled for years.

With new commercial tenants in McHenry Plaza, there is more hope for the long-vacant southern portion of McHenry Commons, the owner of which had been criticized by Jett. But the mayor has since said communication between that commercial center’s landlord and the city has improved.

The addition of 288 apartment units on the Route 31 corridor also is underway just south of Blake Boulevard to the north of McHenry Commons, another development likely to improve the market for commercial space in the area.

“This is a big win for the North Richmond Road corridor which will hopefully spark some new interest in some of our other vacant storefronts in the area,” Polerecky said of McHenry Plaza’s newly full capacity.