Venue Information

City government office in Park Forest, Illinois Built-in the early 1950s, the Park Forest Plaza made history and national news. Shoppers, planners, tourists, and reporters flocked to see this phenomenon – a regional shopping mall. Anchored by three major department stores, the mall featured groupings of small stores clustered around an open grassy area. From Park Forest, the developer, Phil Klutznick, moved on to develop Old Orchard, Oak Brook, and Water Tower Place. But Park Forest was the pioneer, the model. The Village purchased the Park Forest Plaza in Dec. 1995 and, once again, made national news with its program to convert the former mall into a traditional, mixed-use, "Main Street" downtown.