Protect Ford City Mall: Reject Warehouse Rezone

## CONTEXT Ford City Mall, located at 7601 S. Cicero Avenue in Chicago’s 18th Ward, has been a cornerstone of retail and community life on the Southwest Side since the 1960s. For decades, the enclosed mall—anchored by a Carson Pirie Scott and later Burlington, with a multiplex cinema and scores of small businesses—served a dense, working-class, and predominantly Black and Latino population from Ashburn, West Lawn, and Chicago Lawn. However, with the decline of traditional indoor malls nationwide—a pattern accelerated by the rise of e-commerce and the COVID-19 pandemic—Ford City’s foot traffic has dropped, major anchors have closed, and the property now sits at a crossroads. The complication is that the alderman, Derrick Curtis, along with the property owner and logistics developers, has proposed rezoning the 60-acre site from commercial to industrial use to clear the way for a massive distribution warehouse. This proposal comes at a moment when Chicago’s Southwest Side is already disproportionately burdened by logistics sprawl: the adjacent Archer Heights corridor is dominated by truck terminals, and nearby residential streets already suffer from diesel emissions, idling truck traffic, and crumbling pavement. The mall’s potential loss is not merely an aesthetic or nostalgic one. The question facing the 18th Ward is stark: should one of the last remaining regional retail destinations be sacrificed for a warehouse that will bring low-density, low-wage, and often non-union jobs? Or can a community-led process imagine a future for the site that preserves tax-base retention, local small business tenancy, and walkable access? A growing coalition of residents, small business owners, environmental justice organizations, and faith leaders argues that the rezone is a false choice. Similar situations in cities like South Gate, California and Prince George’s County, Maryland have shown that older malls can be retrofitted into mixed-use town centers with housing and green space—outcomes that generate higher long-term property values and community satisfaction. ## PROBLEM At its core, the Ford City Mall rezone proposal represents the replacement of a multi-tenant civic space with a single-tenant industrial asset, and the harms are compounding. First, the direct loss of approximately 1,200 to 1,500 retail and service jobs currently housed in the mall. These jobs—cashiers, sales associates, security, restaurant staff—are not high-paying, but they are accessible to residents without a college degree, provide part-time flexibility, and function as first rungs on the employment ladder. A warehouse will bring at most 400 to 600 jobs, typically at lower hourly pay and with fewer local-hire guarantees. The net job loss is real, and the economic multiplier of retail spending in the neighborhood disappears: every dollar spent at the mall recirculates in nearby restaurants, laundromats, and gas stations. Second, the environmental justice dimension is severe. The 18th Ward already sits in Cook County’s highest quartile for asthma-related emergency room visits and ozone exposure. Warehouses generate concentrated diesel truck traffic: a single 500,000-square-foot facility can induce over 500 truck trips per day. This would worsen local fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels, increase noise, and create safety hazards for pedestrians and cyclists near 79th Street and Cicero Avenue—two major arterial roads with poor signal timings and insufficient crosswalks. Third, the cost of inaction on preventing the rezone is even higher. Once the site is rezoned industrial, it is extremely difficult to revert to commercial or mixed-use. The city loses a transit-adjacent regeneration asset—the mall sits within a mile of the CTA Orange Line’s Midway stop and multiple bus lines. Comparable data from the City of Duarte, California shows that when a dying mall was converted to a warehouse, surrounding home values dropped 8% within three years and small business vacancies in the nearby strip centers increased by 14%. Inaction—meaning, allowing the rezone without a fight—locks the Southwest Side into a low-ambition future for a generation. ## PROPOSED SOLUTION The proposed solution is a three-part community land-use intervention: (1) a formal protest to block the rezoning ordinance before the Chicago City Council; (2) the passage of a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) ordinance for the 18th Ward that requires any future development of the Ford City site to include binding local hiring, environmental mitigation, and mixed-use preservation; and (3) a 12-month community visioning process funded by a $200,000 grant from the Chicago Department of Planning & Development to produce a new master plan for the site. First, the immediate action is to use the protest and media presence—already scheduled at Alderman Curtis’s office (8359 S. Pulaski)—to pressure the alderman to withhold his crucial “aldermanic prerogative” approval of the zoning change. Under Chicago’s unique zoning system, an alderman can effectively veto any rezone in their ward. The coalition should demand a community hearing with live translation (Spanish and Arabic) and a recorded vote. Second, rejecting the warehouse does not mean the mall freezes in time. The coalition should propose a CBA that mandates 50% local hire (with a 10-mile residency preference), a 30-foot truck buffer from residential uses, and an ongoing community oversight committee. This model has been used successfully at the former South Shore Cultural Center redevelopment. Third, the community visioning process should explore three alternative futures based on comparable dead-mall retrofits: a mixed-use town center with 800 apartments and ground-floor retail (modeled on the Colorado Mills redevelopment in Lakewood, CO); a light-manufacturing and maker-space campus with a public park (inspired by the Mad Mex district in Pittsburgh); or a partial warehouse that is restricted to the back half of the site, with a front-facing retail and green buffer along Cicero Avenue. Rejected alternatives include letting the property owner wait another five years for a retail rebound (unlikely given the national mall vacancy rate of over 17%) or allowing a pure warehouse without any conditions (which trades a stagnant asset for a polluting one). The process should be overseen by the Southwest Side Community Development Corporation with a public report due by Q3 2026. ## EXPECTED IMPACT If this proposal is implemented, the primary beneficiary is the approximately 300,000 residents of the Southwest Side who rely on Ford City for essential shopping, part-time employment, and as a third place for social gathering. The most immediate impact is the preservation of an estimated 1,200 retail and service jobs, many of which are held by women, people of color, and residents without cars who walk or take the bus to the mall. Based on the economic impact study of preserving the Hilltop Mall in Richmond, California, each retail job saved in a low-to-moderate-income neighborhood supports an additional 0.3 indirect jobs in the local supply chain, meaning the ripple effect preserves roughly 1,500 total positions. On the environmental front, blocking the warehouse eliminates an estimated 500 daily diesel truck trips, which would prevent a projected 1.2 tons of additional NOx emissions per year and reduce particulate matter exposure for the 4,000 households within half a mile of the site. Asthma hospitalization rates in the area—already 40% higher than the Chicago average—would be prevented from further worsening. The community visioning process will produce a new master plan that could increase the site’s assessed value by 15–25% over the warehouse scenario, because mixed-use properties in Chicago’s middle-ring neighborhoods typically trade at higher per-square-foot values than industrial assets (roughly $80/sqft versus $45/sqft). Tax generation for the Chicago Public Schools and Cook County would likely be stable or higher under a mixed-use redevelopment than under a warehouse. Metrics of success include: the mall vacancy rate dropping from the current 30% to under 15% within three years as a result of new tenancy active marketing; 200+ new affordable housing units if the mixed-use option is chosen; and a 10% reduction in truck-related traffic complaints in the 18th Ward within 18 months. The coalition also expects spillover benefits: a stabilized mall will attract a new grocery anchor (the area is a food desert), reducing food insecurity. The long-term horizon is that the Southwest Side retains a vibrant, transit-accessible node that prevents further economic bleed to suburban logistics corridors like Joliet or Elwood. ## DECISION LENS | | If this passes | If this doesn't pass | | --- | --- | --- | | What will happen | Protest succeeds; rezone blocked; community visioning funded; jobs and mall preserved; environmental review completed. | Warehouse is approved; Ford City closes; mall demolished; 1,200 retail jobs lost; diesel truck traffic spikes. | | What won't happen | Warehouse pollution does not materialize; developer profit from speculative rezone is not realized; aldermanic power is challenged. | Mixed-use redevelopment is abandoned; community oversight is absent; local retail entrepreneur ecosystem is lost. | ## PRECEDENTS EXAMPLE: Duarte, California — What: The Los Angeles suburb allowed a 640,000-square-foot warehouse to replace the former Duarte Plaza Mall, a struggling retail center. The project was approved with no community benefits agreement. — Outcome: Within three years, surrounding residential property values dropped by an average of 8%, and local small business vacancy in a one-mile radius increased by 14% (Duarte Planning Department, 2024). Truck traffic on the adjacent Huntington Drive rose 22%, leading to increased noise complaints. — Outcome: Within three years, surrounding residential property values dropped by an average of 8%, and local small business vacancy in a one-mile radius increased by 14% (Duarte Planning Department, 2024). Truck traffic on the adjacent Huntington Drive rose 22%, leading to increased noise complaints. EXAMPLE: Prince George — What: The county rejected a full-warehouse conversion of the aging Landover Mall site and instead mandated a phased mixed-use redevelopment including 700 residential units, 150,000 sqft of retail, and a public park. The county provided a $12 million tax-increment financing subsidy. — Outcome: Five years post-redevelopment, the site generated $2.1 million annually in new property tax revenue (vs. $400,000 from the dead mall), and local hiring exceeded 35%. Transit ridership at the adjacent Largo Town Center station increased 18%. — Outcome: Five years post-redevelopment, the site generated $2.1 million annually in new property tax revenue (vs. $400,000 from the dead mall), and local hiring exceeded 35%. Transit ridership at the adjacent Largo Town Center station increased 18%.

August 14, 2026