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Megamall Developer Hopes Area Becomes a 'City Within a City'

By Darryl Holliday | August 19, 2014 12:53pm
 Renderings were released for the Logan Square site but community input could still be a game changer.
Megamall Renderings Released
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LOGAN SQUARE — After years of talk about what will happen to Logan Square's Megamall, a developer has revealed the most comprehensive plan to date for the site — which could soon house a grocery store and gym.

Renderings of what's been dubbed "Logan's Crossing" first appeared on Curbed Chicago Monday, and developers at Terraco Real Estate said the Discount Megamall, 2500 N. Milwaukee Ave.,  likely will change drastically — and soon.

“If all goes well, this will be something that would be opened in late 2016. But everything would have to go very right,” said Scott Gendell, founder and president of Terraco. “We’re certainly not buying this property to operate in its current condition.”

 Renderings were released for the Logan Square site, but community input could still be a game changer.
Renderings were released for the Logan Square site, but community input could still be a game changer.
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Terraco

Gendell said there is “certainly demand” for a grocery store on the 166,390-square-foot lot, and plans also include a health club and other retail.

Gendell and 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack both said the “Logan’s Crossing” plan will need community input before moving forward. A public meeting on the matter is being planned, Waguespack said. 

Gendell, a history buff, chose the name "Logan’s Crossing" in honor of John Logan, the neighborhood's namesake. He isn’t fond of the name “Megamall,” and called it an “aesthetic eyesore."

“I look at Logan Square as kind of a crossroads; a major epicenter in the community — and John Logan, who Logan Square is named for is actually one of the most important figures in Illinois history,” he said. “I think its important that we recognize Logan the man as well as Logan Square the place.”

Terraco is still in a “due diligence phase … [there’s] no relative certainty whether we’re going forward or not,” Gendell said, adding that the group is still working on a traffic study, titles and feasibility research.

Two leaders at Terraco, including Gendell, said the neighborhood's character (and farmers market) attracted them to the area.

“Logan Square is changing, but it's retaining its central character, and we see that as a good thing. We have to be sensitive to that, and that’s part of the process,” Gendell said. “[Our] goal is to have a successful project, and that means successful on all levels: aesthetically, financially and just in terms of the greater good in the community.

“What I see is a series of communities stretching from Wicker Park, Bucktown and Humboldt Park to Logan Square as being a city within a city.”

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