WEST LAWN — Ford City Mall, a Southwest Side fixture recently labeled a “death trap” by local officials, will close June 22, officials said Friday.
The decision comes one month after city officials filed an emergency motion asking a Cook County judge to force all tenants and occupants to evacuate the mall, 7601 S. Cicero Ave., citing a defective fire suppression system that posed an “imminent health and safety risk,” Kristen Cabanban, a spokesperson for the Law Department, previously told Block Club.
Deteriorating and hazardous conditions at the mall include “large vacant spaces, flooding, open wiring, dirty conditions and poor lighting,” according to the emergency motion. “Unidentified leaks in the system” could create a sinkhole, Cabanban previously said.
The main mall will be shut down noon June 22, after which commercial tenants will move out, Greg Janes, Chicago assistant corporation counsel, said at Friday’s hearing.
City officials are waiting on the judge to sign the order, but the mall’s shutdown has been agreed with all parties, Janes said Friday.
Ford City Mall has 16 tenants, including JCPenney — the mall’s last anchor tenant. The department store, which has operated at Ford City Mall since 1965, recently renewed a five-year lease, Allen Woolley, an attorney representing JCPenney, previously said. It is the last JCPenny store in the city.
In a statement to Block Club, a representative from JCPenney said the Southwest Side store will close to the public June 21 “despite our best efforts.”
“We are actively exploring opportunities for a new store location in the surrounding Chicago area,” according to the statement. “We are grateful to our dedicated associates and the loyal customers who have shopped at our Ford City Mall location through the years and look forward to continuing to serve them at our other Chicago-area locations and anytime at www.jcpenney.com.”
The JCPenny store at Ford City Mall in Ashburn on April 13, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The next hearing in the matter is June 29 as city officials guarantee that the entire property, including the businesses in the neighboring North Mall that rely on Ford City’s suppression system, remains safe, Janes said.
Though Ford City is closing, the court order requires the fire suppression system that supports the North Mall to remain functional, Janes said. The sprinkler system that supports the North Mall is working, Janes said.
Businesses in the North Mall and the nearby AMC movie theater remain open, but the next hearing could potentially impact tenants in the North Mall, Janes said.
“I don’t want to say that everything is great going forward,” Janes said. “Today’s order affects the main mall, but the entire case remains pending.”
Representatives from Namdar Realty Group, which owns Ford City Mall, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
A storefront is flooded with rain storm water at Ford City Mall in Ashburn on July 25, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The city first filed a complaint in May 2024 after the Fire Department attempted to work with Namdar Realty Group to restore the mall’s defective fire suppression system.
After conditions didn’t improve, the city filed suit against Namdar in May 2025, according to court records. City officials filed an emergency motion to vacate April 10.
Ford City Mall’s fire suppression has been “riddled” with leaks and not functioning for two years, “which, in the event of a fire, could result in severe death and/or injury,” Cabanban previously said.
In addition to potentially creating a sinkhole, leaks in the system could lead to “catastrophic structural failure of portions of the Mall itself,” Cabanban previously said.
A shopping cart is tossed sideways into a large pothole in the parking lot of Ford City Mall amid the heavy rainstorm in Ashburn on July 25, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
At an April court hearing, Cook County Circuit Judge Leonard Murray gave the mall’s occupants seven days to come up with a plan to “spare the tragic consequence that might come to both the individual business owners and their employees and the neighbors and consumers” or prepare to vacate, Murray said.
The decision followed a fiery debate between city officials and an attorney representing JCPenney, who asked the judge to allow the department store to remain open.
One week later, Murray delayed the closure after the building’s fire suppression system was restored. JCPenney shared a statement to media outlets indicating the business would close in the next two months before retracting the statement hours later.
“We are closely monitoring the situation at Ford City Mall and will evaluate options pending any legal proceedings. We hope to continue serving our loyal customers in the community,” according to the updated statement.
Customers mill about at Ford City Mall in Ashburn on July 25, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Namdar bought Ford City Mall in a $16.6 million deal in 2019. The company has “built a real estate empire by buying dying malls and letting them deteriorate before selling off property and walking away,” according to TribLive, which covered the group’s purchase of another mall in Pittsburgh.
Tenants at the mall previously told Block Club conditions worsened after the private real estate firm took ownership.
Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th), whose ward includes the Southwest Side mall, has called the private real estate group “slumlords” who haven’t invested “one quarter” in the mall.
“If you Google Namdar’s properties, all over the country, they’re doing the same thing — just sucking everything out,” Curtis previously said.
The mall’s parking lot has also been “a haven for crime,” and the pipes under the mall are leaking thousands of gallons of water, he said.
“Ford City, right now, is a death trap,” Curtis said. “It’s waiting to cave in at any given time.”
In a previous statement to Block Club, a representative from Namdar Realty Group said owners have worked since buying the mall to bring the fire suppression system into compliance.
“Ownership is actively engaged with engineers, contractors, and City officials to address the matters raised, and has already invested significant resources toward evaluating and improving the property’s fire protection infrastructure,” representatives at Namdar said in a statement. “That work is ongoing.”
The nearly vacated food court at Ford City Mall in Ashburn on July 25, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The potential sale of Ford City Mall remains a “looming decision,” city officials previously said.
Chicago-based real estate company Kurv Industrial, formerly Bridge Industrial, proposed plans to demolish Ford City Mall and build a “modern, master-planned industrial campus” at 7400-7600 S. Kostner Ave. and 7601 S. Cicero Ave.
The nearly $200 million redevelopment is expected to include four 40-feet-tall warehouses ranging from 110,000 square feet to 300,000 square feet that would house small- and medium-sized businesses.
Representatives from Kurv Industrial did not immediately respond to Block Club’s request for comment.
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