West Dundee is rolling out glossy, interactive models in a bid to turn roughly 100 acres of the former Spring Hill Mall into the village’s next big act. The old 1980s shopping center was cleared last year, and now the village is floating two competing visions - a dense mixed-use boulevard and a lower-rise "urban village" - to see what kind of housing, retail and public space developers might actually bite on. Officials are quick to say the drawings are sales tools, not promises set in stone.
Village leaders and planning firm Houseal Lavigne Associates walked residents through the renderings to help drum up interest, saying the village has been quietly prepping the site behind the scenes. West Dundee has been assembling parcels and paid to acquire multiple pieces of the old mall, then wrapped up demolition of the core in 2025 to clear the decks for new construction. These details were reported by The Real Deal.
Two visions, big numbers
On paper, the options are hefty. The "urban village" concept sketches about 778 housing units and roughly 320,000 square feet of retail. The alternative "mixed-use boulevard" pushes that to around 1,326 housing units and about 400,000 square feet of retail. Both visions lean hard into walkable streets, ground-floor shops and a stormwater pond reimagined as a park that people might actually want to visit. A 2024 study the village commissioned also concluded the ring-road parcels and nearby land could support up to 1,500 homes and about 325,000 square feet of commercial space, according to Daily Herald.
Who owns what
West Dundee started buying pieces of the mall in 2023, including the former Sears and Macy’s anchors, then later closed on the main core and the Carson Pirie Scott building. Next-door neighbor Carpentersville controls roughly 20 percent of the former mall footprint and paid $2 million for the old Kohl’s, a split that explains why West Dundee’s glossy marketing only covers land it actually owns. These ownership details and purchase numbers were reported by Shaw Local.
Local stakes and next steps
Village President Chris Nelson has been clear that the models are conversation starters, not marching orders. He told The Real Deal that the full redevelopment push could stretch over a decade, giving the village time to negotiate deals and adjust to the market rather than locking into a single rigid blueprint.
In the short term, the plan is to launch a micro-site featuring the interactive model, step up outreach to residents and issue an open call for developer interest. West Dundee has also floated the idea of putting a new police station on a small slice of the property, and officials say they hope to break ground on that building in 2027, as reported by Daily Herald. For any builder looking for a clean slate, the message from the village is pretty straightforward: the mall is gone, the land is ready and West Dundee is waiting to see who steps up with a serious proposal.
