"Back in the day, it was very common to have three, 400,000 square feet of in-line shop space, and 70 to 80% of that was apparel. Now that no longer is the case." Steve Plenge, CEO of Pacific Retail Capital Partners, which owns the core of Yorktown Center, said that to the Daily Herald in June, right after the mall opened The Square.

Yorktown first opened in 1968, so this is its first fall in almost six decades with a park where a department store used to be. The mall is now built for people who live a short walk away and for families who stay all afternoon. You can see it on the October calendar, in the new tenants, and in what closed or fell through.

The Carson's box came down, and Highland Avenue got a front door

The Square sits where the empty Carson's store used to be. The ribbon cutting was Wednesday, June 17, 2026, with the Village of Lombard, Pacific Retail Capital Partners and Synergy Construction Group named as partners. Yorktown places the park off Highland Avenue between JCPenney and H&M. It has a new mall entrance that leads straight into Center Court.

The Daily Herald described the space as a set of park vignettes: a stage, orange and green Adirondack-style chairs, bold geometric murals, and a wide promenade running to a glass wall at the entrance. The Village of Lombard's development tracker lists a children's play area, a dog park and a fitness area. It also notes that the Village used Business Improvement District #2 funds to cover demolition and the exterior mall construction. Yorktown's own page mentions a natural playscape and Pet Comfort Stations around the space.

Plenge told the paper the glass entrance changed more than how Center Court looks. "The center court was always quite big, and it's attractive, but it never had any natural light in it," he said. "And it's really enabling us to look at a whole different lineup of retailers to come in."

The neighbors arrived before the restaurants

The park was designed to face homes. Occupancy at Yorktown Reserve, 230 Yorktown Mall Drive, began June 1, 2026. The building has a pool, a dog wash, a dog park, a gym, golf simulators and media rooms. Sources count the first phase differently. The Village lists it at 300 units and says the complex will reach 621 units after a second phase that is expected to start construction next year. The Daily Herald reported that Synergy built 276 apartments in the old Carson's parking lot.

On the north side of the mall, D.R. Horton is nearly done with the first phase of The Summit at Yorktown, 90 townhomes on the former Convenience Center property. The Village has approved a second phase of 59 townhomes on 3.59 acres, with completion estimated for 2027 or 2028. "We think there's potentially even more housing that we could add to the site over time," Plenge told the Daily Herald.

All those new homes help explain why the tenants inside have changed.

Inside, the tenant mix is shifting toward places you stay a while

The 2026 openings lean toward food, family errands and appointments you book ahead. A Lombard household that hasn't been inside since last year would notice these:

• Uzumaki Revolving Sushi, 326 Yorktown Shopping Center. The Village lists its opening as September 2026. It serves nigiri, rolls and sashimi on a conveyor belt, with what the Village calls bullet train delivery and tableside server robots. Shaw Local called the format an "AI Bullet Train conveyor belt" when it listed the restaurant as Yorktown's new dining option in June.
• Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, Suite 228A. It opened in September 2026, and the Village describes it as one of the first businesses to open near The Square.
• Toys "R" Us, a 7,500-square-foot store on the lower level of the JCPenney wing. A September 23 post on Yorktown's site said it would open at the start of October. In that Yorktown Center post, general manager Josh Dean said the mall "attracts the ideal cross-section of families and toy aficionados." The mall directory now labels the store "Now Open."
• Gia Mia, 310 Yorktown Shopping Center, which has been open since July 22, 2025. It serves chef-driven food along with craft beer and a wine list. Its pizza is Neapolitan-style from a wood-fired oven.
• Dick's Going, Going, Gone!, Comic Forge, Akira and Swan Wellness, which all arrived in the June wave Shaw Local covered. Swan Wellness offers acupuncture, cupping and Gua Sha.

One store closed this season, and one planned store will not come. Nordstrom Last Chance at Yorktown closed on September 1, 2026, according to NBC Chicago. The Fresh Market also dropped plans for a grocery store on a mall outlot near the new townhomes. Its lease called for the store to be ready by March 31, 2026. In August, the mall's ownership entity filed suit in DuPage County Circuit Court seeking more than $15 million, the Daily Herald reported. Each side blames the other for construction delays, according to the lawsuit as the paper described it.

So an off-price apparel store and a planned grocer are gone. A toy store, a conveyor-belt sushi spot and a spa are in, all within walking distance of a playground. That fits the shift away from apparel Plenge described in June.

The October calendar is built for kids and dogs

The fall schedule shows the same change. All dates below are for 2026, taken from Yorktown Center's event listings and the vendor market organizer's pages.

Monster Mash is the family event of the season. It includes live music from School of Rock Naperville, a DJ, Halloween crafts, and meet-and-greets with toy-store characters and Australian pups. Costumes are encouraged, and Yorktown asks families to register in advance.

Howl-oween is the event built around dogs. It has dog-friendly vendors, Polaroid photo backdrops and tricks for treats. A 6 p.m. costume contest awards prizes in small, medium and large breed categories. You can pre-register, and Yorktown runs a text club for dog owners: text WOOF to 630-629-7330. Yorktown's canine code of conduct applies across the whole mall. Dogs must be leashed or carried on a leash no longer than six feet, and they aren't allowed in The Eatery, the Children's PLAY area, Von Maur or JCPenney. Yorktown hasn't published separate rules for the dog area at The Square.

On a cold weekend, most of this calendar moves indoors. The Hometown Vendor Market organizer lists all its fall and winter markets inside the mall, and the card show is in Center Court. Yorktown's posted hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. No separate hours have been posted for The Square.

What hasn't been announced yet

The Square is still missing park-facing restaurants. "We've got a lot of restaurants that we're talking to right now that will be facing the park," Plenge told the Daily Herald in June, but no names or dates have been announced. The mall directory currently lists Evoke Coffee Lab as "Opening Soon." None of the October through December listings mentions a holiday tree lighting, an outdoor concert or a movie night at The Square, so the stage has no published fall schedule yet.

The second phase of Yorktown Reserve is expected to start construction next year, and the second phase of The Summit is targeting 2027 or 2028. More households are coming to the area around The Square either way. For now, a fall Saturday at Yorktown could mean conveyor-belt sushi at Uzumaki, the trick-or-treat trail on October 18, and a stop at the new Toys "R" Us in the JCPenney wing.

If you live near Yorktown and wonder what the new apartments, townhomes and park might mean for your corner of Lombard, Kathryn Pinto is glad to talk it through over coffee. She'll share what she's seeing on the Butterfield side of the village. Let's Connect.