Will Charlestowne Mall Be Sold Again?

A group of California investors who purchased Charlestowne Mall for $9.5 million in 2010 are entertaining potential buyers for the facility, although the mall is not officially on the market, the Kane County Chronicle reported Saturday.

A spokesman told the Chronicle that the owners have been approached by “multiple investor groups” that have shown interest in the property, which has languished in the years since it opened in 1991.

The decline has some wondering whether or not the mall should be torn down. That was at least one option residents were asked to consider during an August 2012 “visioning” session that was part of the process for drafting the city’s 2013 Comprehensive Plan, which is under review by the St. Charles Plan Commission. During the August session, residents were asked to consider several scenarios for the future of the site, from retrofitting or remodeling the facility to tearing it down completely and developing something new there.

Despite some of the skepticism about the mall’s future, City Administrator Brian Townsend wrote in his St. Charles Patch blog on the same day that meeting was held that at least one study indicates the mall has potential.