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Al Klairmont, the CEO, president and a principal of Chicago-based Imperial Realty, said when his company bought the Belvidere Mall in Waukegan in 1985, he saw potential, but knew there was work to do.

One of the first indoor, enclosed malls in the area when it opened in 1965, Klairmont said when his company purchased it, anchor tenant Montgomery Ward was set to move to the new Lakehurst Mall, and there were a lot of vacancies.

“We leased 11 stores in 90 days,” Klairmont said. “We had storefronts on the outside, and there was a lot of empty spaces in the mall on the inside. We decided to make (the) inside of the mall a flea market.”

When city officials told Klairmont that a flea market was unacceptable, he needed different ideas. Then, one of

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