Inside Chicago’s Ford City Mall sits only a handful of open stores as officials seek to have the mall closed due to “imminent” health and safety concerns.
With only 16 commercial tenants left, footage from inside the mall showed stores like Bath & Body Works, Claire’s, Foot Locker, JCPenney, LIDS, Ross and Sephora still open. The mall’s “About Us” page still shows it has more than 70 stores and restaurants.
Beyond the dwindling storefronts, the once-bustling mall on Chicago’s Southwest Side is at the center of an emergency motion aiming to shut it down, with officials saying leaks and problems inside the building could lead to “catastrophic” structural failure.
A statement sent to NBC Chicago by the city’s Department of Law side an emergency motion to vacate the mall, at 7601 S. Cicero Ave., was issued April 10. It was filed after both the Fire and Building Departments’ concerns that the mall’s defective fire suppression system “could create an imminent health and safety risk” to tenants and shoppers.
“The mall’s fire suppression system has been riddled with leaks and has not been functioning properly for that past two years, which, in the event of a fire, could result in severe death and/or injury” the statement read in part.
The city added that leaks in the system that have not yet been identified threaten the land and soil supporting the mall and could potentially lead to the “creation of a sinkhole and catastrophic structural failure of portions of the mall itself.”
During a hearing held Monday, Judge Leonard Murray gave mall owner Namdar Realty Group until Thursday to respond to the motion. According to the statement, the city has been ordered to provide notice to vacate to the mall’s 16 remaining commercial tenants.
Inside, several storefronts sit empty and gated off.
Photos and video captured by NBC 5 photographers outside the mall Tuesday showed some windows and doors boarded up.
The mall did not provide a comment to NBC Chicago.
