A Mall Built for a Future That Didn’t Happen
Charlestowne Mall opened in April 1991 with more than a million square feet and projections that St. Charles would keep growing east.
Wilmorite Properties laid down tile, recruited anchor stores, and pitched the property as upscale and anchored.
For a few years, it looked like the bet might work. Then Geneva Commons opened. The story that followed wasn’t a collapse, exactly—but a tapering that never reversed.
Lease-Ups, Square Footage, and Delays
Charlestowne Mall opened in April 1991 and was developed by Wilmorite Properties.
The location – Illinois Route 64, east of downtown St. Charles – had been selected two years earlier, based on projections for residential growth across DuPage and Kane counties.
Wilmorite, headquartered near Rochester, New York, was moving beyond its home turf for the first time.
Sears opened first, on April 2. Its shelves were stocked, and the staff were ready before the rest of the mall was complete.
Wilmorite delayed the full opening and postponed Carson Pirie Scott until August 1991.
JCPenney would hold off even longer, not opening until early 1992.
The company said the delays were strategic, aimed at capturing back-to-school shopping after uncertainty from the Gulf War.
At that time, Carson’s parent company, Bergner’s, was dealing with debt from its 1989 acquisition of the chain.
Logistics across the company were strained, but the Charlestowne store opened without shipping delays.
By 1992, Kohl’s had joined as a fourth anchor. The mall also added a two-level carousel near the center court and a food court.
Early leasing promised upward momentum. Charlestowne was, briefly, the answer to local retail expectations.
For those searching for things to do in St. Charles, Illinois, in the early 90s, a new mall with four anchors and clean terrazzo floors seemed like a strong option.
Tenant Shuffles and Property Hand-Offs
Between 2000 and 2010, Charlestowne Mall saw more lease transfers and anchor changes than in its first years.
JCPenney shut its doors in 2000, citing low sales.
Von Maur bought the space that same year, absorbing the footprint of a shuttered shoe store and salon next to it.
The new store opened in early 2001, backed by a $9 million sales tax rebate from the city of St. Charles.
That rebate wasn’t typical. It tied the city directly to the success of a department store.
More retail names arrived: Eddie Bauer, Whitehall Jewelers, Gymboree, Noodle Kidoodle.
Each opened around the time Von Maur came online. Athletic Attic joined the mix. American Eagle expanded.
Claire’s moved from its old spot to the larger Afterthoughts location after acquiring the chain.
By 2002, newer brands like Hollister and Zumiez were opening stores.
The mall also picked up a children’s play area in the center court that year.
The northwest corner, which had once been pitched as a future anchor site, was turned over to Regal Cinemas in 1999.
The theater changed hands again in 2001 when Classic Cinemas took over and closed it for renovations through the fall.
That gave Classic all three theaters operating in St. Charles at the time.
Wilmorite held ownership until 2004. Then, in a large asset sale to Macerich, Charlestowne Mall was left out.
Its 88 percent occupancy rate wasn’t enough. By 2005, it had been handed to Midland Loan Services.
From there, management cycled quickly: Urban Retail, then McKinley Properties by 2007.
None broke ground on redevelopment.
Retail Contraction and Failed Revamps
Charlestowne Mall’s lease outlook thinned fast between 2006 and 2011.
Sam Goody and Casual Corner shut down. Lane Bryant moved operations to Geneva Commons.
A few newer brands stuck around, but even then, mall occupancy dropped below two-thirds.
Retail analyst John Melaniphy, speaking in 2006, said the mall’s size outpaced its local market.
Others pointed to its location—far from any major freeway—and the shift toward big-box retail nearby.
Urban Retail sold off its management rights in 2007.
McKinley Properties floated a conversion idea: replace enclosed retail with an open-air format, like Geneva Commons. No plans were submitted.
By 2010, fewer than 30 stores remained open. That summer, Charlestowne Investments LLC—an ownership group from California—took over the property.
They presented redevelopment proposals but failed to move forward.
City officials waited months with no updates.
Sears announced in January 2011 that it would exit the mall by April.
Negotiations had broken down. The store closed on March 20. That departure left another hole in the western wing of the building.
At mid-decade, redevelopment looked possible. By decade’s end, even basic repairs had stalled.
The city commissioned a $35,000 study in 2012 to explore reuse options.
No formal outcomes came from it. A new sale was arranged through Mark Goodman & Associates later that year, targeting a fall closing. That deal also stalled.
What remained was a high-square-footage retail shell, with no new leases and multiple unrealized proposals on file.
Rebranding Deals and Commercial Stalls
By late 2013, the Charlestowne Mall site was sold again.
The new buyer, The Krausz Companies, came in with architectural plans, branding materials, and a fresh name: The Quad St. Charles. Their proposal was specific.
They planned to demolish the western Sears wing, gut the interior, rebuild the exterior, and reopen the entire property by the end of 2015.
The mall carousel didn’t fit the updated floor plan.
It was sold off and relocated to Chapultepec Park in Mexico City.
Kohl’s closed its Charlestowne location in 2016. That store was one of eighteen on the company’s closure list for the year.
Public statements cited performance metrics. The mall lost its north-facing retail draw with that move.
The eastern wing, leading to Carson’s, was shuttered in mid-2017.
Entryways were locked. Walling went up on both levels near the center court.
The interior mall remained technically open until December 1, 2017, with access limited to Classic Cinemas and Von Maur.
On April 18, 2018, Carson’s parent company, The Bon-Ton, filed for bankruptcy and shut down all affiliated department stores.
That decision removed another anchor from Charlestowne.
By the end of that summer, only two tenants were still operating: the Von Maur department store and Classic Cinemas.
None of Krausz’s original construction plans had moved beyond paper.
Permits weren’t issued. Demolition crews never appeared.
For most of 2018, the only documented activity at the site came from maintenance and private security, keeping the doors locked and the utilities functional.
Ownership Transfers and Market Gridlock
In 2021, two Michigan-based firms, Lormax Stern and SR Jacobson, were going to acquire the Charlestowne Mall property from The Krausz Companies.
The new proposal was mixed-use: townhomes, a hotel, partial demolition, and commercial pad sites.
They would keep Von Maur and the Classic Cinemas building, but everything else was set to come down.
City officials reviewed the plan over several months.
By mid-2022, they declined to approve it. Some local concerns centered on land use.
The proposed residential density and lack of retail options were cited.
Officials requested more entertainment-focused options, saying the area already had enough housing under construction.
No revised plans were submitted after the rejection.
In 2022, the mall property appeared briefly in national marketing again—Toyota used the site to shoot a commercial for the GR86 sports car.
Footage from inside and outside the abandoned structure ran in the company’s advertising for several months.
There were no construction updates in 2023.
A public notice went out in fall 2024 stating that companies had backed out of a deal to purchase the property.
That deal had been facilitated through the city and Krausz, but never closed.
By January 2025, the mall remained unsold.
The only open units were the theater and Von Maur.
The rest of the structure stayed locked. Security patrols continued. Redevelopment was no longer on the calendar—at least officially.
No active bids had been submitted to the city, and no demolition permits were pending.
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