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[jonrevProjects]

@jonrev.com

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Observer of obsolescence. Photographer & printmaker on Lake Wazzapamani. Infodumps about dead malls/esoteric history/things on wheels/whatever... www.jonrev.com 🖕🇦👁️ & 🧊

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · Sep 12

📍 the jonrev projects encompass 20+ years of exploring, digitally preserving and infodumping about dead malls, commercial architecture, abandoned buildings and other such places of memories.

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blog ➡️ jonrev.com
prints ➡️ ko-fi.com/jonrev/shop
photog ➡️ flickr.com/jonrev
more ➡️ jonrev.com/dir/

Photograph. A gray brick building looms through the windshield of a 1980s Pontiac Fiero at blue hour. Signage on the building reads "Carson Pirie Scott" - a defunct department store.

North Riverside Park Mall
North Riverside, Illinois

Photograph. An empty bilevel shopping mall. A large, vacant food court is seen on the lower level.

Stratford Square
Bloomingdale, Illinois

Photograph. An abandoned bilevel shopping mall reflecting 1970s contemporary tastes, featuring brutalist ceilings, wood and smoked glass accents, conversation pit seating flanked by (overgrown) gardens, and a large public art sculpture.

Lakeside Mall
Sterling Heights, Michigan

Photograph. An abandoned Sears department store at twilight, the labelscar of the SEARS letters is visible on five concrete columns separated from a brick building, behind.

Sears, Salem Mall
Trotwood, Ohio

[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5h

Alright who's pulling off the ultimate urbex challenge?

Photograph of a white mansion under demolition in Washington D.C. and primed for the broccoli-cut urban exploring content-creator-industrial complex's taking.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 9h

2spooky4sears

Now printing...

Reposted by [jonrevProjects]

Retailpocalypse @retailpocalypse.bsky.social · 4d

No kings.

Abandoned Burger King ~ North Hanover, NJ 2019

#abandoned #fastfood #burgerking #photography #closed #newjersey

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 3d

Popping-up at ArtWauk tomorrow night in downtown Waukegan. I made a bunch of first-run prints not currently in the shop... drop by, help me make decisions. Free show.

Abandoned malls and other crimes -- 115 N. Genesee Street, 5-9pm.

Photograph. A spread of three photo prints of abandoned buildings. One is on a green cutting mat. Two to the right are sleeved in clear bags. A blade, straight edge and paper scraps above.

[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 4d

That *was* Lincoln Mall. Died in 2015, demolished two years later.

[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 4d

Coincidentally, at the turn of the 1990s the Westridge name was applied to a new SFH subdivision built on the other side of 355 from where the mall was to be built.

[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 4d

The problem there, of course, is another Fiero would turn into another obsession.

My Charger should cross 200k by 2027; I bought one of those lifetime extended warranties back in the day, so regardless I'll keep milking that until something happens where Stellantis taps out.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 4d

If I didn't live where other drivers are MENTAL and we salt roads like McDonald's does fries, I'd be content daily driving another Fiero (manual Duke for those mpg's). It honestly became (more) my ideal car once I added a Bluetooth receiver to the stock radio last year.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 4d

New cars adding AI and infotainment screens serving ads just make a case for my next vehicle being an imported kei truck.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

What a wild couple of weeks for Pennsylvania malls.

[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

...and may soon be harder. The developer planning to raze Exton Square is now under contract to buy and demolish Berkshire Mall.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

Westridge was ultimately never built. Methinks the project collapsed when Randhurst caught wind of the land grabs that would become Stratford Square; and/or when Wieboldt's jumped ship.

Commercial and industrial buildings now stand on the site that would've been Westridge Mall.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

Five minutes directly west of the Westridge site, that property in Bloomingdale would rise to fruition as Stratford Square Mall -- a 1.3-million square-foot center developed by Urban Investment & Development Corp. that opened in 1981 and served the community for 43 years

Wieboldt anchors this mall.

Screenshot, Google Maps. Villages of Bloomingdale and Addison, Illinois. Pinpoint is placed on the site of what would've been Westridge Mall. Directly west of the site is the sprawling retail development formerly known as Stratford Square Mall.

Page from the April 1983 issue of Architectural Record. Photograph at top shows Stratford Square Mall concourse, a bilevel enclosed regional shopping center with retail lining both sides of a wide-open concourse. A diagram of the center's floorplan (upper level) is sketched below.

Photograph. A white brick building in a regional shopping center, a Wieboldt's department store. Parking lot of cars in front.

"Stratford Square Mall"

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

At this point, unfortunately, the Westridge trail goes cold -- there is no further mention of the development in the Trib archives.

Meanwhile, Marshall Field & Company's 1973 annual report first notes their own land acquisition in neighboring Bloomingdale for a future a shopping center development.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

By 1973 however, no groundbreaking has taken place. Wieboldt mentions the Westridge development in its annual shareholder report, with that store's tentative opening now pushed to August 1975.

Chicago Tribune article dated May 26, 1973

Wieboldt sales, profits rise

WIEBOLDT STORES, Inc., yesterday told shareholders sales and earnings increased substantially in the first fiscal quarter ended May 5.
Sales rose 13.1 per cent to $30,306,121 from $26,785,711 in the period a year earlier. Net rose to $284,808, or 9 cents a share, from $18,526 a year ago. Arthur K. Muenze, president, said that altho he didn't know whether the strong sales pace which began last fall would carry thru the rest of 1973, Wieboldt's does expect the cur- rent fiscal year to be better than last.
IN THE FISCAL year entled Feb. 3, Wieboldt's sales rose to $131.2 million and net to $2.6 million, or 87 cents.a share, ending a four-year period of low or flat earnings.
Muenze said all 13 Wieboldt stores showed a sales increase in the first quarter, with the Lakehurst store in Waukegan showing a particularly strong improvement. Home furnish- ings had the largest sales in- crease of any product area. Muenze told plans for three new stores: one in Lincoln Mall in Matteson to open Aug. 9; another in Jefferson Square in Joliet to open in August, 1974; and the last in Westridge in
Addison to open in August, 1975.
ANSWERING A shareholder question about the timing of the openings, Muenze sald Wieboldt's had learned from experience that August "was the only time of year to open a store" because of the fresh fall merchandise and the busy buying period in the back-to- school and Christmas periods.
Muenze said Wieboldt's Lin- coln Mall store "can't help but be a success" because it is in "virgin territory" and is about 15 miles from the nearest ex- isting Wieboldt store so there will be little transfer of shop- ping dollars.
In business at the meeting, shareholders elected a board of directors, including a new member, David C. Keller, vice president and treasurer of Wieboldt's.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

The architect, Sidney Morris & Associates is named -- previously involved in designing Chicago's Lincoln Village shopping center, recently-opened Lakehurst Mall in north-suburban Waukegan (with Gruen Associates), and Northwoods Mall to open in Peoria the following year.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

By May 1972 site prep and other studies are taking place, and the name of the mall development changes to Westridge. The mall take aim competing directly with Yorktown Center in Lombard, and Woodfield in Schaumburg.

Chicago Tribune article dated May 7, 1972

Randhurst Corp. Plans Regional Center in Addison

Westridge, a new regional shopping center, is being planned for a 100-acre site at the southwest corner of Lake Street and Swift Road, Addison.
Randhurst Corp., which owns the Randhurst Shopping center in Mt. Prospect, is to be the developer of the new center. The corporation is composed of Montgomery Ward & Co.; Wieboldt Stores, Inc.; and Carson Pirie Scott & Co.
Harold J. Carlson, vice president and general manager of Randhurst, said plans still are being formulated, but the center probably will not have more than 1 million square feet of space,
It will be an enclosed center with two levels. Food stores and convenience, shopping stores would be in other near by structures. Sidney Morris & Associ ates is architectural firm in charge.
Carlson said site work and engineer- ing studies are now under way. Work on the center could be started this year.
A market analysis shows that the center could draw from an area "which collides with Woodfield [shopping mall in Schaumburg on the north to Yorktown [in Lombard] on the south and from the Tri-State tollway on the east, Carlson said.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

By August 1971 the development was known as the Medinah Mall and described by Randhurst as likely to mimic the design of its namesake in Mount Prospect: a bilevel, million square-foot, triangular-shaped center anchored by Carson's, Wards and Wieboldt's.

Groundbreaking is slated for fall 1972.

Chicago Tribune article dated August 1, 1971

Medinah Mall to Be Built in Addison

The Randhurst Corporation plans to break ground in fall, 1972, for its Medinah Mall shopping center on Lake Street west of Swift Road in Addison, according to Harold Carlson, Randhurst vice president.
Carlson said architects are working on plans for the mall, set to open in August, 1974, but have not yet settled on a design. Favored is a two-level, triangle-shaped mall with parking on both levels, he said.
Major tenants will be Carson Pirie Scott & Co., Montgomery Ward & Co. and Wieboldt Stores, Inc., which formed the Randhurst Corporation more Chan a decade ago.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

First revealed in July 1970, voters that October approved $3m in bonds to finance infrastructure improvements in support of the Addison mall.

By April 1971, Randhurst's W.W.C., Inc. (Wieboldt's-Ward's-Carson's) closed on all land acquisitions for the site, and targeted opening the mall in 1974.

Chicago Tribune article dated April 15, 1971

Plans Move for Center in Addison

Randhurst Corporation's new Addison shopping center is scheduled to open in August, 1974, Harold Carlson, Rand- hurst vice president, has informed the Addison Village Board.
Carlson reported that W. W. C., Inc., a corporation set up to obtain land for the development, has closed the land options on all 100 acres of the center.
W. W. C. stands for Wie- boldt's, Ward's and Carson's. The three control Randhurst Corp. and are expected to be the center's major tenants.
Randhurst revealed plans for the center, to be built on Lake Street west of Swift Road, last July.
Construction was contingent upon improvement of water, drainage and sewer facilities in the area by the village. Last October voters overwhelmingly approved a $3 million bond Issue to finance the improvements.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

Randhurst Corporation - a joint-venture with fellow Chicago retailers: Wieboldt Stores, Inc. and Montgomery Ward & Co. - was originally formed to build its namesake shopping center in north-suburban Mt. Prospect, that opened in 1962. The three department stores also anchor this center.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

The location for the proposed mall was a 100-acre site on Lake Street, directly south of the Medinah Country Club, and west of Swift Road.

The mall was to be built by the Randhurst Corporation - the real estate development and management arm of the Chicago department store, Carson Pirie Scott & Co.

Chicago Tribune article dated July 16, 1970:

PLANS LARGE WEST SUBURB SHOP CENTER

Randhurst Corp., which developed Randhurst shopping Center, has taken options on 100 acres on Lake Street west of Swift Road near Addison and is planning a big shopping center which could open in 1974.
The corporation is composed of Montgomery Ward & Co.; Wieboldt Stores, Inc.; and Carson Pirie Scott & Co.
The store companies are likely to become major tenants of the 1 million square foot center if it moves from a planning to construction stage.

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

Concept artwork, dated 1970, from a promotional flyer leading to the opening of Lincoln Mall in Matteson, Illinois.

Except this concept art doesn't depict Lincoln Mall... it was recycled from the developer's stillborn project in Addison, which was known as both the Medinah Mall and later Westridge.

Concept artwork dated 1970, the name of the artist is unfortunately cropped. A bilevel, enclosed shopping center's central atrium is shown with trees, fountains, conversation pits, and shoppers strolling the concourse. Retail storefronts line all sides of the atrium, with Wieboldt's department store anchoring the far end. Design of the mall reflects early-70s contemporary tastes.

Source: Matteson Historical Society
https://mattesonhistoricalsociety.org/lincoln-mall-1973-2015

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Reposted by [jonrevProjects]

Dark Grimiano @doctor1hundred.bsky.social · 5d

I think this is why I've always liked the way the Illinois Nazis are portrayed in The Blues Brothers. It shows them for what they are: spiteful little weirdos who are ineffective and deserve no respect.

Mr. Chau @srirachachau.bsky.social · 5d

It’s funny how the old media depiction of Nazis was always that they’re evil but dignified gentleman and now they’re openly just like “Hello. I’m the Anime Pedophile”

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[jonrevProjects] @jonrev.com · 5d

In Amboy, 95 miles west of Chicago: the building which housed the original Carson & Pirie Co. store still stands, now functioning as a bar. There is still a plaque, placed in 1954 by Carson Pirie Scott & Co., commemorating the company's 100th anniversary.

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Reposted by [jonrevProjects]

starch mogul @posts-cards.bsky.social · 5d

wiebolt's department stores (RIP) first store was at 1832 w grand and i was surprised to see that it's still there

sketch of an italianate two flat with three windows on the second floor and a sign that says W.A. Wieboldt from wieboldt's annual shareholders report

2019 streetview of a brick italiante two story building

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