City Council approves industrial redevelopment of Ford City Mall

The Chicago City Council has approved a planned industrial redevelopment of the Ford City Mall at 7601 S. Cicero. Planned by Chicago-based developer Kurv Industrial, the redevelopment will replace Ford City Mall, which was recently closed due to public health and safety concerns. The mall’s 62.4-acre site is generally bounded by S. Cicero Ave to the west, W. 74th Pl to the north, S. Kostner Ave to the east, and W. 76th St to the south. 

Designed by Nelson, the project will replace the mall with four new speculative industrial buildings that will total approximately 1.1 million square feet of space. The buildings will be served by 904 passenger vehicle parking spaces, 216 loading docks, and 160 truck parking spaces. 

The buildings have been comprehensively master planned in a campus layout to accommodate related traffic on the site internally to minimize its impact on the neighborhood. Vehicular access to parking will be from the south via W. 76th St, while truck traffic will enter the site via a dedicated access point on S. Kostner Ave. 

Designed with a modern industrial aesthetic, the building facades include changes in materiality to break up the scale of the building and create visual interest. Emphasis was placed on primary entrances and office areas by including prominent architectural features that provide a more pedestrian scale appearance. The buildings’ materiality utilizes a combination of brick, glass, and metal accents at these prominent locations, with a precast concrete exterior around the rest of the structures.

As part of the project, the developer will create a dedicated CTA bus terminal at the northeast corner of the site, providing a safe, organized facility for operators and passengers. Buses will enter and exit via an internal roadway and have four dedicated boarding lanes with boarding islands that are ADA accessible. An operator building will provide secure, private restrooms and support space for CTA operators.

With City Council approval secured, the site will be rezoned from B3-2 to M2-2 with a Planned Development designation to allow for the scope of the project. Construction on the $200 million development is planned to begin in Q4 2026 with completion set for Q4 2028.