Construction of the mall began in May 1972[3] and was completed at a cost of $45 million. By September 10, 1973, the building was complete and the first stores – Marshall Field & Company, Sears, Lord & Taylor and fifteen specialty shops – had their grand opening.[4] Hawthorn was originally constructed without a food court. In 1990, Lord & Taylor sold its store to Carson Pirie Scott. In 1997, more stores began to come into the mall, including Barnes & Noble and JCPenney, which was constructed on the north end of the mall to replace the shuttered location at the failing Lakehurst Mall in Waukegan.[5] In 1999, Holiday Inn Express opened outside the mall.
The mall was acquired by Westfield Group in 2002.[6]Dave & Buster's opened on March 26, 2014.[7]Maggiano's Little Italy opened on July 21, 2014.[8]AMC Theatres opened in the spring of 2015.[9]Westfield Group sold 80% interest in mall as of December 2015.[10] Anchor stores include JCPenney, Macy's, AMC Theatres, and Dave & Buster's.[11] On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Carson Pirie Scott and Carson's Furniture Gallery would be shuttering after it wasn't able to establish any new conditions to satisfy its established long-term debt.[12] The store closed in August 2018. On May 31, 2018, it was a announced Sears would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its brick-and-mortar format.[13][14][15][16] In January 2021, the previous Sears and the previous Carson Pirie Scott outpost were razed to begin to facilitate a new "main street" development with apartments and restaurants.[17]
