Forest Mall

Forest Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Opened in 1973, the anchor stores are Kohl's and Staples. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Younkers, Sears, and JCPenney. It closed in January 2020.

Forest Mall
2020 shortly before demolition.
LocationFond du Lac, Wisconsin, United States
Coordinates43.78633°N 88.47693°W / 43.78633; -88.47693
Address835 W. Johnson St.
Opening date1973
Closing dateJanuary 2020
DeveloperMelvin Simon & Associates
OwnerATR Corinth Partners[1]
No. of stores and services50 (All stores vacant)
No. of anchor tenants5 (2 open, 3 vacant)
Total retail floor area500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2)[2]
No. of floors1
Websiteforestmall.com

History

Melvin Simon & Associates, now known as Simon Property Group, first announced plans for Forest Mall in 1964.[3] The mall opened in 1973, featuring Montgomery Ward, J. C. Penney, H. C. Prange Co., Prange Way, and G. C. Murphy.[4] Of these stores, Montgomery Ward, J. C. Penney, and Prange had relocated from downtown Fond du Lac.[5] The Montgomery Ward space was later taken over by Kohl's, the Prange Way space by Sears, and Prange's became Younkers.

Simon renovated the mall in 1998, adding skylights and new flooring.[6] In 2006, several new stores opened at the mall, although most were local retailers.[7]

In May 2014, J. C. Penney closed, the last of the original anchors in the mall.[8] The Sears store closed November 2 of the same year, as did the Forest Mall Cinema. Sometime in 2014 or 2015, RadioShack closed their store.

In 2014, Simon Property Group spun off its underperforming malls, including Forest Mall, into an investment group known as WP Glimcher. In early 2016, Simon's investment group officially sold the mall to a Dallas-based investment group known as ATR Corinth Partners.[1] Simon had developed the mall and owned it for more than 40 years.

It was announced in February 2018 that Younkers would be closing their Fond du Lac location.[9] Later in 2018 Younkers closed. As of 2020, the mall has no tenants (Kohl’s and Staples closed their mall entrances) and closed around January of that year. In July of 2020, demolition has started on the former Sears and eventually, the whole mall.

References
  1. "Forest Mall sold to Texas developer". Fond du Lac Reporter. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  2. "Leasing information". Simon Property Group. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  3. "Wisconsin". Chain Store Age. Lebhar Friedman: E–70. 1964.
  4. "Wisconsin". CSA Super Markets. Lebhar Friedman: 100. 1973.
  5. Burayidi, Michael. Downtowns: Revitalizing the Centers of Small Urban Communities. p. 50.
  6. King, Jenny (1 September 1997). "Adaptability is key in the hardy Midwest". Retail Traffic Mag. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  7. Stanek, Heather (9 October 2006). "Mall populated with variety of new retailers". The Reporter. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  8. Davidson, Paul (14 January 2014). "JCPenney closing 33 stores, laying off 2,000". USA Today. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  9. "Yonkers Fond du Lac". Yonkers. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
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