By Brian J. Rogal | Midwest
MOUNT VERNON, IL—Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., an arts and crafts retail chain, just signed a lease for a 52,729 square-foot store at the Times Square Mall in Mount Vernon, IL, the first of several major new leases the owners say they will reveal in the coming weeks.
Northbrook, IL-based Pine Tree Commercial Realty LLC owns the 269,328-square-foot center in partnership with St. Louis-based The Sansone Group and Elgin, IL-based Wanxiang America Real Estate Group, and oversees operations and leasing.
“Kicking off with Hobby Lobby puts our leasing of the soon to be vacant areas of the center in fast gear,” says Pine Tree Executive Vice President Bruce Boruszak. “Hobby Lobby is anticipated to open here in the first quarter of 2014.”
Times Square has been the dominant retail property in this Southern Illinois community since 1974. Pine Tree and its partners purchased it in May 2012, and plan to redevelop the center beginning this fall and make it appealing to prospective new tenants. This will be the first outlet from the family-owned, Oklahoma City-based company in Mount Vernon, with the closest listed in Carbondale and Fairview Heights, 44 and 62 miles away, respectively.
Times Square Mall sits on the southeast corner of Broadway Street and 42 Street in Mount Vernon, a regional retail hub about 80 miles east of St. Louis. JCPenney, Dunham Sports and Peebles anchor the center, which also has national retailers GNC, Maurices, Claire’s, Bath & Body Works, Hallmark, Glik’s, Shoe Sensation, Subway and Wendy’s.
