The owner of the rapidly deteriorating Sandburg Mall, minus three occupied anchor buildings, has high hopes and big plans for the one-time retail center of Galesburg.
Texas-based Tom Morris says he is finalizing plans to build a “Hilton or Marriott type” hotel with an upscale restaurant near the former Sears building. In addition, he envisions the interior wings of the mall being transformed into apartments or a multi-family, independent living facility. Other restaurants could pop up around the perimeter of the property, according to Morris.
“We have an architect who is working on two or three different concepts,” Morris said in a March 23 phone interview with WGIL. “But I don’t think it will ever be a true mall again.”
Sandburg Mall opened Oct. 1, 1975, with anchor stores Bergner’s, Sears and JC Penney, and dozens of store in the three wings of the impressive structure. Kmart later added an anchor wing. After 43 years, Sandburg effectively died on Aug. 26, 2018, when Bergner’s closed its doors for good, leaving just GNC in the mall. GNC later moved to Seminary Square and has since closed that locations, as well.
Morris, who operates as SBM, LLC in Flower Mound, Texas, previously has announced similar ambitious plans for Sandburg Mall. A Nov. 21, 2016 WGIL article said new ownership planned to redevelop the mall by demolishing all but three anchor stores — Bergners, JCPenney and the vacant Sears building. At that time, Morris said redevelopment could mean adding restaurants, apartments, an entertainment center or even a hotel.
If Morris is to deliver this time, he will first have to pay back property taxes dating back to 2019. Buyers have purchased the taxes in 2019, 2020 and 2021, according to Knox County property tax records.
“I redeveloped my first mall 20 years ago,” Morris said. “In terms of what you can do with an old mall, the possibilities are unlimited. I’ve put a college in a mall, I’ve put a church in a mall.”
Mall owner plans to present ideas to city
Morris said he’s within 30 to 60 days of approaching City of Galesburg officials with his plans for revitalizing the Sandburg Mall property he still owns. He said he would personally visit with the city to present his ideas.
“We want to build a hotel, because we think there’s a need,” Morris said. “The people in the business of building hotels are interested in buying two and a half acres, and we’re actually in the final stages of selecting a flag. I can see it being a Hilton or Marriott product.
“It’s not going to be a huge hotel, but it will be very nice, with an upscale restaurant and meeting rooms.” — Sandburg Mall owner Tom Morris
“It’s not going to be a huge hotel, but it will be very nice, with an upscale restaurant and meeting rooms.”
The executive director of the Galesburg Tourism & Visitors Bureau says Galesburg could use more hotel rooms, noting hotel demand is returning to normal after the pandemic. However Randy Newcomb says it’s crucial a new hotel includes space for meeting rooms and a large conference center.
“If you put a hotel at the mall and it had a convention/meeting center attached to it, that would be good for Galesburg,” Newcomb said. “The reason being, we could go out and market to get conventions and groups to come in.
“If it’s a high end hotel with a small to medium size convention center, it would be great. I have groups right now that want to come to Galesburg, but we can’t accommodate them.”
Morris said a “governmental agency” is interested in leasing the Sears building, but could not release the name of the possible tenant. Last October, WGIL reported the Lane A. Evans VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, currently located at 310 Home Blvd., would move to the former Bergner’s store in Sandburg Mall by the late fall of 2023.
Redeveloping the interior of the mall will be more challenging, according to Morris. He says a developer is working on plans to bring a multi-family living concept to the interior wings.
“If we did that, we would gut the inside of the mall,” Morris said. “But that would be fairly large, cost involved project. The multi family and hotel would drive a lot of traffic to the area.
“If we can’t work out something for the inside of the mall, we could gut it completely and redevelop it into various other uses.”
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Fortunately, portions of the mall have been sub-divided, sold, and have been or are in the process of being redeveloped by other businesses. In addition to the VA Clinic coming to Bergner’s, UHaul occupies the former Kmart building and Galesburg Warehouse Bargains is located in the former JC Penney building.
Karmark Tire & Automotive has been in the automotive wing of the Penney building for 25 years. Karmark owner Mark Heartlein purchased the building three years ago.
City official believes mall can be developed
Steve Gugliotta, director of Community Development for the City of Galesburg, says the interior portion of the mall has suffered major damage due to a variety of reasons. But despite the damage, Gugliotta believes the mall could be redeveloped.
“There are roof leaks — as many of us know the roof leaked even back when the mall was still operating,” he said. “Surprisingly, while the leaks have caused some mold on the interior, the structure itself is still in a state that someone could redevelop the building. We have been in the building a few times in the last few years with various interested parties.
“The structures are not as bad as some assume, although it will take the right developer with vision (and funding).” — Steve Gugliotta, director of Community Development for the City of Galesburg
“The structures are not as bad as some assume, although it will take the right developer with vision (and funding).”
Gugliotta notes the property falls within the Galesburg Enterprise Zone, meaning there could potentially be some incentives available for a renovation project. He said there has been interest from various entities in the building over the years.
“As of yet, nobody has been able to strike a deal with the current owner,” Gugliotta said. “There are many possibilities with the property, it will depend on the developer who eventually ends up with the property.”
New developer could land incentives
Like Gugliotta, the lead official for economic development in Galesburg and Knox County believes the Sandburg Mall site is ripe for redevelopment projects.
“The Sandburg Mall site definitely has potential for re-use in the future,” said Ken Springer, president of Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development. Springer noted three of the four anchor store sites are being utilized.
Counting the main trunk of the mall, the exterior parking lots and the former Sears building — all owned by Morris — there are approximately 20 acres of the mall that remain unused. Springer noted the ground sits at the intersection of two major corridors with high traffic counts, good visibility and easy access to US-34.
Strong development incentives and versatile zoning classification also makes the site attractive, according to Springer.
“I think the site will find some kind of re-use eventually.” — Ken Springer, president of Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development.
“I think the site will find some kind of re-use eventually based on these fundamental strengths of the property,” Springer said.
Springer said there are a number of communities nationwide that have found ways to reuse vacant malls. Medical-oriented reuses are fairly common. Other former malls have found new life as call centers, educational facilities, workforce training centers and more.
Similar to the idea Morris has floated for the interior wings of the Mall, Springer points to malls being converted into housing.
Springer does not believe the vacant mall has hindered local efforts to attract more retail to Galesburg.
“Would I like to see the remaining unused portion of the mall redeveloped? Sure, who wouldn’t?” Springer said. “But I don’t think the mere existence of the mall has had a negative impact on our community’s ability to attract retail.
“The city has seen quite a bit of new retail come in over the years – Slumberland Furniture, Kohls, Five Below, Harbor Freight, Marshalls etc. That is a bunch of new retail for a community our size.”
Why did Sandburg Mall fail?
Those who romanticize about the glory days of Sandburg Mall must realize malls have failed all across the country. Springer said in the 1980’s, there were nearly 2,500 indoor shopping malls around the US. Today there are around 700 indoor malls left.
“I think our mall fell victim to the same trends and forces that sparked the broader decline in indoor malls nationwide,” Springer said. “The decline in indoor malls was caused by a shift in consumer retail patterns that favored standalone big box stores like Target & WalMart vs. the traditional department stores that anchored indoor malls.”
Concurrent with that trend, according to Springer, was the rise in online sales, which is still growing to this day.
“Consider those trends and then imagine owning a giant building with lots of square footage devoted to common areas and a huge roof and parking lot to maintain,” he said. “The economics for indoor mall owners just got to be very difficult and that is why a lot of them went away.”
Watch: Dead Malls Season 4 Episode 2 – Sandburg Mall
Galesburg Mayor Peter Schwartzman says redeveloping or finding a re-use of the mall falls into a bigger picture of bringing retail to the city.
“I would hope that it can be put to productive use soon,” Schwartzman said. “Malls all over the U.S. failed in the past 10 years and many remain unused. Galesburg’s mall is no different. We continue to work to find interested parties for it and other abandoned properties.
“We hope that continued investment in other areas will channel interest in larger developments.”
