Evergreen Plaza, Evergreen Park, Illinois.

In the early 1950s, two regional-class, suburban shopping centers were being developed on the outskirts of Chicago. Initial stores at Park Forest Commercial Center opened in 1949 and 1950. The first anchor-type department store was dedicated in late 1953.

A second shopping center was being built on a 25-acre plot located 16 miles southwest of downtown Chicago in the Village of Evergreen Park. Evergreen Plaza was an early project of visionary real estate entrepreneur Arthur Rubloff. The open-air facility was designed by Chicago-based Holabird, Root, Burgee & Howard T. Fisher & Associates.

A vintage newspaper ad announces the grand opening of the third branch of Chicago's The Fair department store chain. The $6 million unit was dedicated, as the first operational Evergreen Plaza tenant, in August 1952.

Evergreen Plaza was originally a strip mall encompassing 482,000 leasable square feet. The complex consisted of a main retail level and two basement floors; the Arcade Level and Terrace (Lower) Level.

The first operational store, a 4-level (170,000 sq. ft.), Chicago-based The Fair Store, welcomed its first shoppers on August 25, 1952. 

Tenants continued to open businesses over the next 2 years. Major stores included a 2-level Chicago-based Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (44,000 sq. ft.) opened a specialty store in December 1952, Lytton's (30,000 sq. ft.) and Walgreens (10,000 sq. ft.) first shopping center store.

Among 58 original inline stores were Hudson-Ross Home Appliances, Kinney Shoes, The Cotton Shop, Florsheim Shoes, Singer Sewing Center, Lerner Shops, Chandler's Shoes, A.S. Beck Shoes, an S.S. Kresge 5 & Dime, Jewel, and Kroger supermarkets.

Sixteen years of planning went into the original Plaza. By 1957, the $15 million center encompassed 482,000 leasable square feet and housed fifty-eight stores. In addition to The Fair and Carson Pirie Scott & Co., it included Lytton's junior department store, S.S. Kresge 5 & Dime and Walgreens (their first shopping center store). The split-level parking lot could accommodate 2,300 autos.

S.S. Kresge sold The Fair stores to Montgomery Ward in July 1957. The Evergreen Plaza unit, seen above, encompassed 4 levels and 170,000 square feet.

A large expansion began in late 1961. A dual-level, open-air mall of 65 stores was built onto the south end of the existing structure. 

The Plaza's Carson Pirie Scott & Co. opened its doors as part of the South Mall expansion in March 1963. The 250,000-square-foot store replaced a smaller 44,000-square-foot specialty store located in the original shopping center.

Its 4-level (250,000 sq. ft.) Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (relocated the 1952 store) held its grand opening on March 11, 1963. The Fair, which had been rebranded by Montgomery Ward on April 28, 1964, was enlarged to 230,000 square feet.

The South Mall expansion also added a 1,800-car parking garage and a twin cinema. The M&R Evergreen Theatres 1-2 opened June 26, 1964, as one of America's earliest shopping mall twin cinemas. New South Mall stores included Koch's & Brentano's, O'Connor & Goldberg Shoes, Tie Rak, National Uniform Shop, Hickory Farms and Evergreen Plaza Shaver Shop. Existing stores such as Maurice L. Rothschild and Chandler's Shoes were also relocated.

A major expansion was done between 1961 and 1963. An open-air South Mall was built, anchored by a new, full-line Carson Pirie Scott & Co. The renovation added sixty-five stores, a gigantic parking structure and one of the nation's first mall-based twin cinemas. There was now free parking for 4,750 autos. Within 1 year, another renovation would be underway that would enclose all courts and concourses.

With these improvements, Evergreen Plaza housed approximately 1,210,000 leasable square feet and contained 108 store spaces. The remodeling was only completed after another project got underway. All courts and concourse were enclosed, climate-controlled and rededicated on May 19, 1966.

The 8-story Evergreen Plaza Tower was dedicated in December of 1970. It stood on the south end of the mall site, adjacent to Carson's and the Evergreen Theatre.

By this time, Evergreen Plaza was facing a significant competitor. The predominantly-enclosed Ford City Center,  3.5 miles northwest in Chicago, opened for business in August 1965. In Oak Lawn, Chicago Ridge Mall, 5 miles west, was inaugurated in November 1981. Evergreen Plaza was refurbished in several stages between the mid-1980s and late 1990s to remain competitive.

$15 million were invested in various projects, including renovating all common areas and installing new elevators and escalators. A 7-bay Food Court, built in the gutted Lower Level space, was completed in October 1997. At this time, the official name of the shopping center was shortened to The Plaza.

The mall's fully-enclosed courtyard area connected the original shopping plaza and the newer South Mall. The room was originally conceived in the early 1960s and is known as Evergreen Square. When this picture was taken in 2000, its official name was Center Square.

An early 2000s view of the north shopping concourse. Office Depot adopted the old Walgreens spot after that store closed in 2005. Office Depot closed its store in 2008. Next, Planet Fitness moved into that space.

The Montgomery Ward chain went out of business in March 2001. The store sat vacant until being re-tenanted by New York-based National Wholesale Liquidators. They leased 2 levels of the 4-level structure and opened for business in 2005. 

Circuit City, which had maintained a Plaza presence since the early 1990s, closed its store in 2005.

An $8 million mall renovation commenced in 2003. The parking garage and multiplex cinema (which had closed in July 1999) were demolished. Moreover, mall entrances were updated, sidewalks widened, new landscaping installed, and an out parcel Applebee's restaurant was built in the northeast parking area. These renovations were completed in 2007.

This 2008 plan shows areas rebuilt since the 1960s in light gray. The gigantic parking garage, once touted as one of the largest in the USA, was demolished in 2003...along with a shuttered Evergreen Theatre. By this time, The Plaza Mall was in a downward spiral that would never escape.

Such a large-scale refurbishment seems odd in the context of future plans announced for The Plaza. Soon after the renovation was completed, the owners, Chicago-based Evergreen Plaza Associates, divulged plans for a partial demolition. A 220,000 sq. ft. power center would be built to replace razed sections of the mall.

This revitalization was derailed by the recession. The Plaza lost it's Office Depot in 2008 and National Wholesale Liquidators in 2010. An inline store exodus ensued. The virtually vacant retail hub was foreclosed on in July 2011. It went into receivership in August.

A joint venture of Northbrook, Illinois-based GMX Real Estate and the Deerfield, Illinois-based Janko Group bought the property's $20 million foreclosure note. Refined plans for the mall makeover were announced in April 2012. The goal was to shutter the mall and demolish everything except for a 9-tenant store block on the north end and a freestanding Applebee's restaurant. Carson's was to relocate into a new 2-level (120,200 sq. ft.) building.

An open-air power center was to replace the moribund (in terminal decline) mall, with new stores opening between July and November of 2014. Unfortunately, the new owners of The Plaza could not secure a supermarket for their redevelopment. The project fell through in August 2012, with the mall closing for good on May 31, 2013.

Tampa, Florida's DeBartolo Development came on the Evergreen scene in March 2013 with a plan to restart the redevelopment process. As in the original plan, a new Carson's was to be built and existing Applebee's and Planet Fitness stores were retained. The remainder of the shopping hub was to be knocked down and replaced by an open-air power center.

DeBartolo formed a joint venture with Bloomfield Hills and Michigan-based Lormax Stern. A revised rebuilding plan was announced in March 2015. A forty-store Evergreen Plaza Marketplace would be built. Work commenced in October 2015. The northern portion of the mall, housing Planet Fitness, was left standing, along with Applebee's and the Evergreen Plaza Tower on the south end of the site. Carson's store was left intact until a new building could be completed.

A redevelopment was announced in April 2012. A great deal of the mall was bulldozed and replaced by an open-air complex. However, this project fell through in August 2012. In October 2015, the project came to fruition, and Evergreen Plaza Marketplace arose from the rubble.

The new Carson's, a 2-level (120,500 sq. ft.) structure, opened for business on September 14, 2016. By this time, the official name of the new shopping complex had reverted back to Evergreen Plaza. The dedication of Carson's was followed by those for a (29,100 sq. ft.) 365 by Whole Foods Market and (49,300 sq. ft.) Dick's Sporting Goods. Other charter stores included DSW, Five Below, T.J. Maxx and Party City.

Evergreen Plaza operated with two adjacent shopping facilities, occupying a site north of 95th Street. Fairway Plaza, anchored by Walmart and Sam's Club, was completed in 2006. Evergreen Marketplace, housing Menard's and Meijer's stores opened in 2013. 

The old mall has been demolished, with the remaining sections shown in black. Evergreen Plaza now incorporates 380,600 leasable square feet and houses twenty-six stores in its main structure and out parcels. The shiny new Carson's store would be short-lived. It would be shuttered less than 2 years after its grand opening.

The first stores in the new strip mall opened in September 2016. The official name, Evergreen Plaza Marketplace, had been shortened to simply Evergreen Plaza.

A Logo Montage of Evergreen Plaza.

Carson's at Evergreen Plaza was shuttered in August 2018 as part of the bankruptcy and liquidation of owners, The Bon Ton Stores. Macy's re-tenanted the store space with a new format, a combination store, on October 7, 2022. The first level was refashioned into a Market By Macy's, with the second-floor housing a Macy's Backstage.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.