Lombard's New Places This Fall Fill the Old Carson's and Dania Sites

The wall of Yorktown Center where Carson's used to stand is now an expanse of glass. Through it you can see a wide promenade, orange and green Adirondack-style chairs, bold geometric murals and a stage. The Daily Herald described it in June as "park vignettes" built where the empty department store was demolished.

On Roosevelt Road, the old Dania furniture building has the same kind of new tenants. Most of what opened in Lombard between September and late October is in these two former retail sites. In both places the space is being filled with food, personal services and room to spend an afternoon, while the downtown holiday traditions stay on Park Avenue.

The Carson's footprint is now a park with a mall attached

The Square opened in June 2026. The Village of Lombard's development tracker, last updated October 19, lists a children's play area, a stage, a dog park and a fitness area, with dining and shops planned around the edges. Yorktown's own page for The Square places it off Highland Avenue between JCPenney and H&M. The mall describes a natural playscape, seating, greenery and pet comfort stations.

The Village helped pay for it. The tracker says the Village approved an incentive using Business Improvement District #2 funds to cover demolition and exterior mall construction. The Square's promenade starts at the Reserve at Yorktown, a 300-unit apartment complex at 230 Yorktown Mall Drive that began occupancy on June 1, 2026. A second phase is expected to start construction next year and would bring the complex to 621 units. The Daily Herald called it part of Yorktown's shift toward a "live-work-play" campus.

So the biggest change at Yorktown this year is a park where a department store used to be. The leases signed inside the building are a similar mix.

Inside, this fall's new tenants are a toy store, a sushi conveyor and a spa

Four openings at Yorktown in 2026 show what kind of tenants the center is bringing in:

• Toys R Us opened in October in a 7,500-square-foot space on the lower level of the JCPenney wing.
• Uzumaki Revolving Sushi opened in September at 326 Yorktown Shopping Center.
• Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa opened in September at 203 Yorktown Shopping Center, Suite 228A, near The Square.
• Going, Going, Gone, a discount sporting goods store from Dick's, opened in March in the former Marshall's and HomeGoods space.

Toys R Us closed most of its Illinois stores nearly a decade ago, and the Lombard store is part of a national return. The Daily Herald reported that the company planned 120 new stand-alone stores this fall, on top of 40 existing locations. Yorktown general manager Josh Dean told the paper the leasing team had been "really aggressive" once they heard about the expansion, and called the mall a good fit because "it attracts the ideal cross-section of families and toy aficionados." The same report said the expansion was timed for the holiday season.

A conveyor-belt sushi spot, a spa and a toy store that's open for its first holiday season are all places you go for an outing.

On Roosevelt Road, the old Dania building is becoming a row of restaurants

Burj Plaza, at 515 W. Roosevelt Road, covers 10.8 acres that sold in December 2024. Demolition and construction started in 2025. The Village's tracker says the front of the former Dania building is being turned into retail, service and restaurant space facing Roosevelt Road, and most of the building behind it will be a banquet facility. When the plan was first reported, Shaw Local said the hall could hold up to 1,500 people. The former Fifth Third Bank building on the site is being remodeled into a Bumper 2 Burger with a drive-thru.

The Lombard Chamber held the plaza's grand-opening ribbon cutting on September 4. As of the Village's October 19 update, three businesses had opened, all in October:

Open now

• Karahi Boys, 593 W. Roosevelt Road, serving Pakistani food.
• Al Manakeesh, 561 W. Roosevelt Road, which bakes fresh manakeesh daily in a traditional oven.
• Platinum Cuts, 553 W. Roosevelt Road, a men's barbershop.

Still listed as coming

The Village lists more businesses planned for 2026, and most of them are food. They include Usmania, Shelby's, MFC, Dosa Inn, Milk Cake Bakery, Melt-n-Dip and Panwaari. Melt n Dip is listed at 557 W. Roosevelt Road for crepes, waffles, Italian gelato and drinks made with Belgian chocolate. Panwaari is listed at 493 W. Roosevelt Road for paan, drinks and South Asian-inspired desserts. The Burj Plaza website already shows several of these names on its homepage. Until a business says it's open, treat it as coming.

Other Roosevelt Road sites are changing too. A multi-tenant building is going up on the former Century Tile site at 747 E. Roosevelt Road, with Jabal Coffee House named as an early tenant. The former Pep Boys at 865 E. Roosevelt Road is being converted for restaurant and retail use, anchored by Octane Lounge, a car storage and lounge space.

November 7 has events in both parts of town

The new south-side places matter most on weekends. The first Saturday in November has events at Yorktown and downtown at the same time, and after that, each weekend is mostly in one area or the other.

On November 7, both downtown events are finished by early afternoon and the card show runs until 6 p.m., so you can make the Pumpkin Smash in the morning and still reach Yorktown. The City2City show fills Center Court on both levels with sports cards, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and One Piece vendors. If the new Toys R Us is already on your list, it's in the same building. Yorktown's November and December markets are promoted as Hometown Vendor Markets of local independent sellers offering food, jewelry, crafts, home décor and art. Yorktown's events calendar lists no 2026 Santa visit or tree lighting yet, so check the mall's site closer to December.

Downtown keeps the tree lighting on December 5

The downtown events still center on Park Avenue and Lilacia Park. The Jingle Bell Jubilee runs from 4 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 5. The Lombard Park District lists the Lilacia Park tree lighting at 5:30 p.m., as part of a tree lighting and Santa arrival block from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Other pieces include a free trolley from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., Helen Plum Library activities from 2 to 6 p.m., and Candy Cane Lane shopping and entertainment on Park Avenue from 4 to 8 p.m. The Park District calendar shows Holiday Lights in Lilacia Park nightly from 4:30 to 10 p.m. starting December 6 and running through January 3, but one event page gives a December 7 start, so check the Park District's Holiday Lights page before you go.

Lilacia Park has changes of its own coming. The Park District's August update puts design and construction documents for the Maple Street property in progress through December 2026, with construction planned for April through November 2027. This year's Jubilee happens before any of that work starts. If you know downtown from its summer schedule, our guide to South Park Avenue in summer and our look at Lombard's split October weekend cover how those three blocks are used the rest of the year.

The Christmas Mart, the Jubilee and the Lilacia lights are all downtown. Most of the openings that give you new places to eat, shop and spend a Saturday afternoon this fall are at Yorktown and on Roosevelt Road, on the former Carson's and Dania sites.

A new park at Yorktown and new restaurants on Roosevelt Road change what's close to a lot of Lombard homes. If you're curious how these changes might figure in your home's value, The Schiller Team knows the south-side corridors and the downtown blocks street by street. Request a free home valuation and we'll walk you through what's nearby and what's coming, using local market data. You can also browse our Lombard neighborhood page for more.