After a year of being closed, a lawsuit has decided the issues, and the 279,000 square foot mall is about to be razed.

Huntley Outlet Mall shuttered up last spring after 22 years in business, finding itself to be yet another victim of online shopping, combined with the fact that the mall was not on the short list of malls deemed to be worthy of significant reinvestment.

In other words, few customers and even fewer potential suitors.

The Village of Huntley had filed a lawsuit for code violations among other problems.

From the Daily Herald:

Huntley filed a lawsuit against the owners Feb. 14 to address fire and life safety code violations. The court found continued noncompliance at the property is creating a danger to the public, officials said.

The village and property owners entered into a settlement agreement approved by the village board earlier this month to demolish the buildings and a demolition permit was issued last week. Demolition work will begin by April 16 and be completed by June 15, per the court order.

Owners are seeking to rezone the property for office, research and industrial use and are soliciting national real estate firms to help market it.

Village officials had hoped the $61 million full-access interchange at I-90 and Route 47, completed in 2013, would bolster the mall's sales and boost traffic, but it was too little, too late.

Nationwide, outlets tripled from 113 in 1988 to 345 in 2013, but dipped to 215 just two years later. Sales tax revenues from the outlet centers took a hit after the 2008 market crash, but started picking back up in 2011, according to industry experts.

Obviously, that rebound did not extend to Huntley Outlet Mall.

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