July 02, 2025
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DeKalb city leaders enter planning phase to market Blackhawk, Hillcrest lots for redevelopment

The 4.87-acre lots have been prepped for redevelopment, but it remains unclear what direction the DeKalb City Council will provide city staff.

By Megann Horstead
Both parties (the city of DeKalb and Hunter Hillcrest LLC) claim ownership of a 5.8-foot strip of land which was until days ago a retaining wall between the Hunter Hillcrest property and the empty lot where once sat movie theater Campus Cinemas, which the city of DeKalb also owns. Hunter Hillcrest filed a temporary restraining order against the city of DeKalb to halt the demolition on what they said is their property. The request was denied by a DeKalb County judge Friday, May 20, 2022.

May 20, 2022 Shaw Local file photo - A DeKalb city-owned 4.87-acre property at Blackhawk Road and Hillcrest Drive on the north side has been prepped for redevelopment, and city staff want DeKalb City Council input how to use the demolished space. (Kelsey Rettke)

DeKALB – DeKalb city leaders are looking to its elected officials to help steer plans to market and redevelop city-owned lots on Hillcrest Drive and Blackhawk Road.

City staff are asking the DeKalb City Council to consider holding several council workshop sessions in July and August to help steer city plans for the future of a 4.87-acre lot which was formerly Campus Cinemas movie theater on Blackhawk Road and the Hillcrest Shopping Center on the north side. The council is expected discuss the considerations at its Monday meeting, set for 6 p.m. at the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St, according to documents released ahead of Monday’s meeting.

City officials have welcomed interactions with community leaders that regularly serve residents in the Annie Glidden North neighborhood, according to city documents. City Manager Bill Nicklas now recommends at least one council workshop session in July and August to solicit community and alderperson input.

The city took ownership of what was formerly the Hillcrest Shopping Center in 2021 and the Blackhawk Road property in 2019. The ownership changes came after the movie theater had been condemned and remained vacant for years. What was once called the Hunter Hillcrest Shopping Center was purchased by the city for $1.18 million in August 2021 after yers of disputes between the city of DeKalb and Evanston-based Hunter Properties, once DeKalb’s largest landlord.

Both properties, which for an “L” shape at Hillcrest Drive and Blackhawk Road, have been prepped and are ready for what city staff hope will be mixed-use private redevelopment, documents state. City staff are asking the council to help decide what type of development to seek, and whether there is potential for a public-private partnership.

In 2019, the city commissioned the now-defunct Annie Glidden Task Force as a panel to come with action steps for how to rehab and redevelop the city’s north side. Out of the community-led conversations that followed, an Annie Glidden North Revitalization Plan formed.

The group now exists in another form as a nonprofit, Opportunity DeKalb as of the spring of 2021.

The city has invested $2.5 million in local and federal funds in assembling the lots for revitalization, to date, documents show.

An additional $1.87 million from late 2018 to present was also put forward by the city of DeKalb for surrounding costs which included $200,000 for new streetlights; $310,000 to extend fiberoptic cables for community Wi-Fi at no cost to area residents; $150,000 to support the University Village Collaborative; $30,000 to aid DeKalb County Community Gardens’ traveling food pantry, Grow Mobile, in the area; $70,000 to support neighborhood summer program Camp Power and meals; $110,000 for Twombly Road sidewalk work; $53,000 for the University Village summer bus shuttle and $80,000 to aid former tenants of Hunter Hillcrest in relocation costs.

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