Cedar Crossings Mall Development Could See First Action

After years of delays, the Cedar Crossings retail center by Silver Cross Hospital is seeing some action.

A Meijer grocery store was one anchor originally proposed before plans fell through, and on Monday night the Village Board considered dividing that lot to make way for a medical office building.

The 970,000-square-foot retail center being developed by the Zaremba Group was first planned back when Interstate 355 was extended south to New Lenox. Cedar Crossings was first slated to open in 2009 until the recession intervened.

Original plans called for new locations of a Kohl's and a Meijer to anchor the shopping center, along with a wholesale club, a sporting goods store and a restaurant, among other shops. But retailers postponed construction of new locations in the faltering economy.

The lot that was once planned to hold the Meijer and a gas station was divided into four smaller lots, and with approval at the next Village Board meeting on Oct. 24, a special user permit could be granted for the property.

Village planner Jeff Smith said Parkview Orthopaedic has submitted revised site plans to the village for a one-story medical building, but there are still some changes that must be made.

The office building would be just east of the Silver Cross Hospital campus, which will open in February 2012. There are other planned medical office buildings surrounding the hospital, .

Still, the planned Cedar Crossings development is seeking new tenants after many backed out. In a previous article, developer Gary Hough of Zaremba Group said he's in .

In the meantime, the goal is to construct roads in the area. The village amended its deal with the developer to instead of getting all the money up front.

"It's important to have some of this infrastructure completed so that retailers will want to come to Cedar Crossings when the economy picks up again," Hough said in a previous article.

—Karen Meyer contributed information to this article.