DownTown Park Forest

DownTown Park Forest
Leasing Office
226 Forest Boulevard
Phone:  708-503-8153
Fax:  708-503-9417 
E-Mail Us

 Built in the early 1950s, the Park Forest Plaza made history and national news.  Shoppers, planners, tourists and reporters flocked to see this phenomenon – a regional shopping mall. Anchored by three major department stores, the mall featured groupings of small stores clustered around an open grassy area.  From Park Forest, the developer, Phil Klutznick, moved on to develop Old Orchard, Oak Brook and Water Tower Place. But, Park Forest was the pioneer, the model.

The Village purchased the Park Forest Plaza in December, 1995 and, once again, made national news with its program to convert the former mall into a traditional, mixed-use, "Main Street" downtown. 

CONVERSION TO A TRADITIONAL DOWNTOWN
The first step in the redevelopment process involved the demolition of over 300,000 square feet of vacant commercial space, including two of the former anchor department stores.  A new grid road system through the former grassy mall has been created. The new east/west street has been named, appropriately, Main Street. 

A major step in the conversion from a mall to a downtown was the sale of individual parcels and buildings.  The first new construction in the DownTown was a new Walgreens on an outlot.  Matanky Realty Group owns Building #2, which housesa movie theatre.  CVS Drug Store is located on a former parking lot on the corner of Main Street and Western Avenue.   There are two senior complexes that have been built on the east side of the DownTown.  Victory Center Senior has both an independent and assisted living.  In the Fall of 2005, Bigelow Homes started building 63 homes in the Victoria Place development.  This is on the west side of the DownTown. 

CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
Another major step was the creation of a market niche. As an historically cultural community, the local market niche was culture.  One of the retail buildings has been converted to a cultural arts center.  It houses the Illinois Theatre Center, an equity theater company, and the Tall Grass Arts Association Art Gallery and School.  It also houses the offices and Board Rooms of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra.  Salon Artists Gallery is another art venue located at 294 Main Street.

LEASING - GROUND LEVEL
There are eight buildings in the DownTown; six along Main Street.  Leasing opportunities include spaces which range from 100 to 8,000 square feet.  DownTown Park Forest boasts a wide variety of businesses including, an automotive supply store, a florist, a bridal and tailor shop, a health & fitness center, hair salons, a barber shop, a sandwich/fast food establishment, a printing copier center, a resale store, a caterer, a movie theater and banquet/meeting facility, just to name a few.  The DownTown also offers the health care services of a family medicine physician, 2 podiatric physicians and also chiropractic physicians.

LEASING - SECOND FLOOR OFFICE

Two of the buildings in DownTown Park Forest feature second floor office leasing opportunities for administrative office settings.  Currently, leased office space in Building #1 is 95% occupied and Building #7 is 78% occupied.  The second floor office located at 202 Forest Boulevard offers approximately 2,730 square feet of space.  The first floor is currently leased by Chase Bank.  The second floor would be an ideal location for physician offices, retail business or an educational/vocational training facility.  Some of our tenants include insurance companies, accountants and tax service providers, counseling service providers, mortgage and real estate companies, art studios, piano teachers, health care agencies, as well as computer software and IT specialists.

  Click here for more leasing information

LEASING AND PURCHASE OPPORTUNITIES
There are still spaces available in the DownTown, ground level and second floor office space.  They range from 100 to 8,000 square feet.  Information on the sale of buildings, parcels of land or leasing contact Sharon Bellino or Hildy Kingma

To view the Photo Gallery of the Downtown click here