Stein Mart, Honquist closures empty Deerfield shopping center

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:48AM

With Stein Mart and Honquist Furniture Outlet Plus leaving Deerfield’s Cadwell Corners at the end of last year, the shopping center has become almost as bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.

Only the Calico Corners fabric shop, 11 Waukegan Road, and the Accelerated Rehabilitation Center, 43 N. Waukegan Road, remain at the site.

Neither Deerfield village officials nor the Deerfield, Bannockburn and Riverwoods Chamber of Commerce knew exactly why the businesses left. But representatives believed the poor economy was involved.

Personnel at Stein Mart’s Corporate Headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla., said only Chief Financial Officer Greg Kleffner could provide information on the closure, but he was ill.

Stein Mart, which was at 35 N. Waukegan Road, had moved into its site at the corner of Waukegan and Lake Cook Road in 2005. Honquist opened its 22,000-square-foot facility nearby with fanfare at 7 N. Waukegan Road in September of 2010, but stayed little more than a year.

Kathy LeVeque, assistant Deerfield village planner, noted that the village could do little to help fill the empty spaces at Cadwell Corners besides making it known they are available.

“People call the village saying they have a new business and they’re looking for a space of so many square feet. We can direct them to the spaces we have available in the community, and certainly to the Stein Mart and Honquist spaces,” LeVeque said. “Then, we can put them in touch with the leasing agent or property owner.”

Village staff also work with business and property owners if a special use request for a property is involved, so the business can be up and running as soon as possible, she added.

The 79,774-square-foot Cadwell Corners shopping center was constructed in 1981 and remodeled in 1996, according to the website of Mid-America Asset Management Inc., which handles the property.

The site stretches across eight acres of land. Six stores ranging from 1,768 square feet to 22,167 square feet were available with negotiable leases before the anchor stores left, the website said.

A call to the management company seeking more information about the center was not returned before print deadline Tuesday.