Malls · Illinois

Illinois Star Centre

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedClosedMarion, IL

Marion’s former mall closed after anchor loss and bankruptcy, now under private control with STAR‑bond‑backed redevelopment planned for 2025 soon. · summary, model-written

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Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from. documented = a quoted excerpt (click to read it) · reported = a source named, no excerpt yet · no source.

Illinois Star Centre. Photo: Mike Kalasnik from Charlotte, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile12 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors

Dillard's

This site: Dillard's wikipedia · all sites with this

Sears

This site: Sears wikipedia · all sites with this

Finance and pipeline

Sold since 2020

This site: 2020 Marion Center Project LLC research-deals · all sites with this

Ownership

Single-purpose entity

This site: Marion Center Project LLC county-parcels · all sites with this

Place

County lost 10%+ of retail establishments since 2012

This site: -16% census-cbp · all sites with this

Grocery within 800 m

This site: 1 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this

High earthquake risk

This site: Relatively High fema-nri · all sites with this

High natural hazard risk (FEMA NRI)

This site: Relatively High; earthquake, hail, strong wind, winter weather, ice storm fema-nri · all sites with this

Shrinking county

This site: -0.6% census-acs · all sites with this

Policy tool

Bonds

This site: STAR bonds extraction · all sites with this

Scale

Building footprint 50,000+ m²

This site: 65,946 m² overture · all sites with this

Strategy

Redeveloped

This site: extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

Status	Closedextracted, unreviewed documented On November 16, 2018, it was reported that the Illinois Centre Mall would cease operations after 30 days. en.wikipedia.org
Strategy	Redevelopedextracted, unreviewed documented with plans to redevelop the mall en.wikipedia.org
Redeveloper	Marion Center Project LLCextracted, unreviewed reported

Planning

Public purchase or subsidy	STAR bondsextracted, unreviewed documented In 2025, the Marion City Council approved $150 million in STAR bonds for a project called Oasis Outdoors, which included redeveloping the Illinois Star Centre Mall. en.wikipedia.org
Entitlement year	2025extracted, unreviewed reported

Deals and debt

Date	Event	Price	Parties	Source
2020	Sold	—	Marion Center Project LLC	Wikipedia
2011	Sold	—	Sabre ISC ← local developers	Wikipedia
1996	Sold	—	local developers ← Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation	Wikipedia

Site context

Transit within 800 m	no rail stationOpenStreetMap
Motorway junctions within 2 km	54BOpenStreetMap
FEMA flood zone	X · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m	2: MARION HEALTHCARE; MARION RETAIL CENTEREPA FRS
Census tract 17199021002	1,530 people, 145 per sq mi; median household income $86,932; median gross rent $950; 25% renters; 22.0% vacant units; 0.0% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)	3 of 6 daily needs: 1 grocers, 0 schools, 0 parks or playgrounds, 3 health, 0 civic, 16 food and drink; 0 cycleway segments, 1 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity Zone	noHUD
Housing permits, Williamson County (IL), 2024	5 units in 5+ unit buildings, 53 in 2–4, 80 single-family; 2023: 8 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)	overall percentile 0.50; socioeconomic 0.36; housing and transport 0.77; 17% below 150% of poverty; 4% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Overture Maps	no place match; building footprint 65,946 m²Overture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Attention: Wikipedia page views	34,513 since 2015; 2,255 in the last 12 months (-26% vs the prior 12); peak 2018-11 with 1,148Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023	tract boundary changed between the 2010 and 2020 census; no 2013 comparisonCensus ACS
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)	relatively high overall (score 95.0); expected annual loss $3.8M; high: earthquake, hail, strong wind, winter weather, ice storm; community resilience relatively highFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 km	noneHUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW)	3,244 jobs in 197 establishments; average annual pay $38,776; employment location quotient 1.11; employment +0.3% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private
Jobs located in the tract, 2022	10,722 jobs; 1,613 in retail trade, 1,689 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 17199021002)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022
Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract)	children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 37th income percentile as adults; 0.6% incarcerated at the 2010 count (519 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)	low-income, low-access tract (1 mile urban / 10 miles rural); 10% of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket; poverty rate 21.7%; median family income $63,388; 597 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
Schools	Marion Community Unit School District 2 (PK-12); 0 public schools within 1 mileNCES EDGE
Elevation	453 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Storm events in the county, 2016-2025	125 county-logged events: 46 hail, 40 thunderstorm wind, 16 flash flood, 11 flood; $36,822,000 property damage reported; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events
Homes for sale in ZIP 62959, 2026-09	median list price $296,000 (+10.7% on the year); 102 active listings; median 48 days on market; 17% with a price cutRealtor.com Research
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023	231 establishments (-16%); 3,880 jobs (+4%)Census CBP
Housing market in the county	typical home value $157,730 (+0% 1 yr, +17% 5 yr); typical rent $988/mo (+5% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
House price index, tract, 2023	150 (2000 = 100); -3.9% 1 yr, +23% 5 yr, +9% 10 yrFHFA
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)	26,554 vehicles a day on CH-00 (principal arterial, 7 lanes); 1,600 trucks; 11 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Opened in 1991 as Illinois Centre Mall with over 60 stores and anchors Dillard's and Target. Ownership shifted in 1996 to local developers, then to Sabre ISC in 2011, which renamed it Illinois Star Centre. After Sears closed in 2018 and the mall ceased operations, Marion Center Project LLC bought the property in 2020 and the city approved STAR bonds in 2025 for redevelopment as Oasis Outdoors.

Why. The record shows anchor loss (Sears closing in 2018) and the 2017 bankruptcy of the ownership team preceded the mall’s cessation of operations.

Where it stands. The mall is currently closed and controlled by Marion Center Project LLC, which purchased the property in 2020.

For a planner

Precedent: use of STAR bonds for redevelopment approved in 2025.
Policy tool: public subsidy via STAR bonds.
Open question: what zoning or entitlements are in place for the proposed Oasis Outdoors project?
Open question: how will the project address existing infrastructure and traffic impacts?

For a developer

Site size: not specified in the record.
Control: title held by Marion Center Project LLC.
Entitlement stage: entitlement_year 2025 indicates approved entitlements.
Constraints: floodplain, transit access, and environmental constraints are not provided in the record.
Market signals: tract-level data are absent from the record.

What we do not know yet

Site size is missing.
Floodplain, transit, and environmental context layers are not provided.
Tract/market data are absent, limiting assessment of demand.
Details on the LLC’s ownership structure and any partners are not given.
The record’s verification status is 'draft', indicating some fields may be model‑extracted and unreviewed.

Generated by nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b on NVIDIA API via Hermes CT from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

Circle Centre Mall, Indianapolis, IN · Malls · opened 1995; same strategy: redevelop
Great Northern Mall, Clay, NY · Malls · opened 1988; same strategy: redevelop
La Fiesta Mall, Saipan · Malls · opened 1993; same strategy: redevelop
Lincolnwood Town Center, Lincolnwood, IL · Malls · opened 1990; same strategy: redevelop; also in IL

Elsewhere on the web

Pages with photos

Trip to the Mall: Illinois Star Centre Mall- (Marion, IL) triptothemall.blogspot.com
Illinois Star Centre Mall Marion IL | gameking3 | Flickr flickr.com
Illinois Star Centre Mall explores redevelopment upon state approval wpsdlocal6.com
Illinois Star Centre Mall In Marion, IL: What Comes After Its Collapse ... bestattractions.org

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

closed or demolished site (sourced)
already in play: under construction, approved, or sold to a developer with housing plans

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Opened	1991Wikidata
Original developer	Edward J. DeBartolo Corporationextracted, unreviewed documented Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation developed the mall en.wikipedia.org
Anchors	Phar-Mor, Dillard's, Sears, Target
County	Williamson County
Census division	3 · East North Central
Notes	Wikipedia categories: Abandoned shopping malls in the United States

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, what is there now, retrofit year. Know it? Tell us.

Background

Illinois Star Centre, formerly Illinois Centre Mall, was a shopping mall in Marion, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1991, it used to feature more than 60 stores. Its anchor stores include Dillard's and Target, with Target being the busiest. Previously there was a Sears anchor store, however it was closed in April 2018. Many of the mall's tenant stores have closed, with not a single vendor remaining in the food court.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

1990 Illinois Centre Mall opened
1991 Opened (Wikidata)
1996 DeBartolo sold the mall to local developers
2011 Sabre ISC acquired the mall and renamed it Illinois Star Centre
2017 Ownership team declared bankruptcy
2018 Sears anchor store closed
2018 Mall reported to cease operations after 30 days
2020 Marion Center Project LLC purchased the mall
2025 Marion City Council approved $150 million in STAR bonds for Oasis Outdoors

Sources

Wikipedia: Illinois Star Centre · supports: original developer, public subsidy, status, strategy
12 quoted sentences
Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation developed the mall
On November 16, 2018, it was reported that the Illinois Centre Mall would cease operations after 30 days.
with plans to redevelop the mall
In 2025, the Marion City Council approved $150 million in STAR bonds for a project called Oasis Outdoors, which included redeveloping the Illinois Star Centre Mall.

Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "Illinois Star Centre, Marion, IL." Record m-c3717f23be, imported, unreviewed. Built on the public Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed. https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/il/marion-illinois-star-centre/ (accessed 2026-10-20).

BibTeX

@misc{retrofitatlas_marionillinoisstarcentre,
  title = {Illinois Star Centre, Marion, IL},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/il/marion-illinois-star-centre/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record m-c3717f23be, release 2026.10.20, tier: draft. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-20}
}

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