The Grove at Bloomingdale: What's Going Up Where Stratford Square Stood

If you ever spent a day after Thanksgiving fighting for a parking spot at Stratford Square, the view from Schick Road will surprise you this year. The mall is gone. Only the Kohl's is still there. The land is becoming The Grove at Bloomingdale, a district run by the village with a man-made lake, an event lawn, restaurants, an indoor sports center and apartments. The ground is torn up right now, but the first building is already going up.

The short answer

The Grove at Bloomingdale is a mixed-use project on the old mall site at W. Schick Road and Springfield Drive. The plans call for restaurants, entertainment, shops and apartments. The project's website says there will be more than 400,000 square feet of space for those uses.

This isn't just a set of drawings anymore. The mall has been knocked down, except for the Kohl's, which stays as a stand-alone store. Water, sewer and stormwater lines are in the ground. The Daily Herald reported in June 2026 that construction had started on the first building, Bloomingdale Yard, an indoor sports and family center. It is the project's first official tenant.

The rest is still to come: the lake, the lawn, the restaurants and the apartments. That includes a lawn that is planned to turn into an ice rink each winter.

How the mall site got here

Stratford Square had been fading for years before the village stepped in. In January 2024, Bloomingdale bought the mall from Namdar Realty Group. The Wildcat Chronicle reported the price as $8.75 million. The Chicago Sun-Times, citing the Daily Herald, put the cost of buying and closing the mall at $17.1 million. The sources don't explain the difference between the two numbers.

The mall closed for good in April 2024. That September, the village announced its redevelopment plan, which drew on a resident survey from 2022.

Demolition finished in 2025. Kohl's was the only part of the mall left standing. The site covers more than 60 acres. In early January 2026, crews started on utilities. The Daily Herald reported that the village issued bonds to pay for the water, sewer and stormwater systems, which are now in place. With the groundwork done, building could start.

What's coming, piece by piece

Bloomingdale Yard. The first tenant is an indoor sports and family recreation center of about 100,000 square feet. It comes from Bill Gust, who started the Yard in Westmont and later opened locations in Naperville and Milwaukee. The Sun-Times says the plans include sports leagues, after-school sports, party packages, a children's playroom and a child care center.

The lake and the lawn. A large man-made lake will sit in the middle of the site, with restaurants along its edges. The project says the lake will also handle stormwater, so it's part of the drainage system as well as the scenery. Next to it, a central lawn is planned for farmers markets, concerts, festivals and movie nights. In winter, the Daily Herald reports, the lawn becomes an NHL-sized ice rink. The project's site also lists a dog park with a walk-up bar and says visitors can carry drinks from the bars and restaurants into the outdoor areas.

The first five restaurants. These have been announced:

• GIA MIA: modern Italian, with wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza, fresh pasta and handmade mozzarella.
• Hacienda Real: contemporary Mexican.
• A Greek restaurant from Chicago's Forte Hospitality Group: the name hasn't been announced yet.
• Game On!: a sports bar from Boston. The project says this will be its second location and its first outside Boston.
• Loretta's Last Call: a Nashville-style spot with dining, live music and country nightlife. This would be its first location in Illinois.

Apartments. The project's website lists 280 luxury apartments. As of June 2026, the Daily Herald reported that the village was still finalizing a contract with a developer, and no developer has been named. Treat the unit count as the plan for now, not a final number.

What it costs and who is behind it

You'll see two very different price tags. The Grove's website calls it a $375 million project. In January 2026, the Sun-Times called it a $78 million mixed-use district. Neither source explains what each number covers. One may be the total build-out by every partner and the other a narrower piece, but that hasn't been confirmed. Each number belongs to the source that published it.

What's clearer is who paid for what so far. The village bought the mall, paid for demolition, and issued bonds for the underground utilities. The tenants who build on top of that groundwork come next.

The project partners are:

• Segovia Partners: developer and leasing
• Gravity Architecture & Design
• Peak Construction Corporation
• Christopher B. Burke Engineering

When it opens

Bloomingdale Yard is expected to open in 2027. Officials hope several restaurants will also open by the end of 2027, including Forte Hospitality's Greek restaurant. The project's website says more phases and businesses will keep opening through 2030.

As of June, the lake and lawn work was still ahead. No start date has been announced for the apartments. The project's website says its renderings are only concepts and that the design and features may change. This winter, the old mall lot will still be a construction site. The ice rink will come later.

Where to follow it

The project's official site, thegrovebloomingdale.com, lists tenants and leasing contacts. It's the first place new restaurant names are likely to show up. For the full reporting, start with the Daily Herald's June 2026 construction update and the Sun-Times' January 2026 overview, both linked below. They cover the timeline, the tenants and the village's role in more detail than the project's own site.

Sources (7)

• Daily Herald: Bloomingdale Yard construction ushers in transformation of Stratford Square to The Grove (June 22, 2026)
• The Grove at Bloomingdale (official site)
• Chicago Sun-Times: Bloomingdale Grove redevelopment of Stratford Square Mall (Jan. 10, 2026)
• Wildcat Chronicle: Bloomingdale prepares to redevelop Stratford Square Mall into mixed-use community hub
• Daily Herald: Bloomingdale takes over Stratford Square Mall (Jan. 31, 2024)
• The Real Deal: Bloomingdale reveals five restaurants at $375M redevelopment
• Whatnow: Forte Hospitality, GIA MIA and Hacienda Real at The Grove

Photo: Aerial view of Stratford Square Mall, September 2018 by Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0.