By Stephanie Lulay April 6, 2014 8:56PM Updated: April 8, 2014 9:48AM The Beacon News
AURORA — The group that owns Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora has said it will add more parking spaces than previously planned as part of the mall’s expansion.
Under the expansion plan, Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora plans to add about 294,000 square feet of new retail space by 2015. John Villapiano, senior development manager at Simon Property Group, said the expansion will make way for 80 to 90 new stores.
Simon Properties, the group that owns the outlet mall, now plans to install an additional 1,900 parking spots at the mall under the expansion. An October 2013 plan called for 1,743 parking spots to be added to the mall’s existing 2,190 parking spots.
Residents of 1st Ward neighborhoods previously voiced opposition to the original expansion parking plan. In October 2013, Roger Vernon, chairman of the Big Woods Marmion neighborhood group, said that the traffic is “atrocious” at the existing outlet mall area.
Alderman Kristina Bohman, 1st Ward, said that the outlet mall owners had adequately addressed the concerns of residents in neighborhood meetings.
Simon Properties plans to break ground on the expansion in May 2014 and open in spring 2015, according to Sandy Stein, an attorney representing Simon Property Group.
“We’re on a very tight schedule,” Stein said.
Villapiano said the Aurora outlet mall expansion is the largest expansion in the history of the company. The Chicago Premium Outlets expansion would make the new mall a 730,000-square-foot facility.
The 45-acre expansion will occupy a vacant industrial site, home to the former Sealmaster Bearings plant, just east of the current outlet mall at Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road.
New Jersey-based Simon Property Group owns and operates 65 other outlet malls in North America.
Aldermen will vote on the final plat and plan for the expansion at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place, Aurora
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