After being vacant for 6 years, the former Kmart store in Morton is getting a new life

MORTON – The village's Kmart store closed in 2016.

The sprawling 95,520-square-foot building where the one-time retail giant offered its iconic blue light specials has sat vacant since then – a stark contrast to the rest of the busy Morton Village Shopping Center.

But the former Kmart building won't be empty much longer.

U-Haul is in the process of buying the building at 1075 W. Jackson St. and plans to open a new facility that will feature more than 750 climate-controlled, individually-alarmed, ADA-accessible indoor self-storage rooms, with a covered load/unload area available for storage customers.

"This is good news for Morton," said Mayor Jeff Kaufman. "U-Haul will be spending more than $1 million to fix up the place and create a great business."

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Part of 'adaptive reuse program'

The old Kmart building is a perfect spot for U-Haul Moving & Storage of Morton, according to Aaron Freeman, U-Haul area district vice president.

A major reason, he said, is the building's location – especially its proximity to Interstate 74, a freeway that provides easy access to Peoria and Bloomington.

The building can be seen clearly by the 40,000 or so drivers who pass by it daily.

"Having a building on the east side of the Illinois River in the Peoria area is important, too, because that area is vastly underserved for the services U-Haul offers," Freeman said.

Freeman said the building's size fits U-Haul's business model.

"Empty big-box stores tend to sit vacant for a long time because they're so large and can only accommodate a certain type of business," he said. "U-Haul can fully utilize a space this size and do so without the environmental impact of building a new facility from the ground up.

"We call it our adaptive reuse program. Nearly 70% of our facilities are part of the program. Adaptive reuse is a green initiative that communities stand behind."

Realtor Dan Maloof of Peoria-based Maloof Commercial Real Estate, who brokered the U-Haul real estate deal in Morton, said the impending sale of the former Kmart building is a sign of the times.

"It's sad, but big-box stores are closing," he said. "This development is a great reuse of the old Kmart building, turning something negative into a positive.

"Morton will increase its tax base and sales tax revenue, and people will be put to work when the U-Haul facility opens. People won't recognize the place as an old Kmart building. U-Haul has done a yeoman's job with similar projects."

U-Haul is already using part of the former Kmart building.

Truck and trailer rentals, boxes and moving supplies, and U-Box portable storage containers are being offered out of a temporary showroom in what was Kmart's lawn and garden department.

"That area eventually will become the hitch bay," Freeman said.

Towing equipment, hitch installation, hitch accessories, bike racks, propane gas and other goods and services will be available at the facility down the road.

U-Haul hopes to have its new Morton location fully operational by the end of the year.

Freeman said at least 15 employees will be hired to staff the facility. Job seekers, especially veterans, are encouraged to apply at uhauljobs.com.

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What the village asked from U-Haul

U-Haul needed to receive a special use permit from the Morton Village Board so it could store and rent trucks and trailers on the site.

Trustees gave their unanimous approval for that permit last month after U-Haul agreed to site improvements requested by village officials following a walk around the site by village and U-Haul officials.

"Those requests weren't a problem. U-Haul has been a team player on this project from the get-go," Kaufman said.

Trustee Steve Leitch, one of the participants on the site tour, said the village's requests augment U-Haul's plans and involve safety and aesthetics.

"We want U-Haul to be successful and a great member of the business community," he said. "The improvement items on our list are important from that perspective."

Among the site improvements requested by the village:

• Replace or remove rusty doors and door frames, and worn-out overhead doors.

• Patch the parking lot and add fog coating and striping to make the lot "safer for customers who are walking in the parking lot, and help customers know where the drive lanes are, and where to park their own vehicle or the one they are returning," Leitch said.

• Install a cantilevered canopy to the return vehicle lanes in the parking lot with the posts in a landscaped island "to make it less likely that someone would hit and damage the posts holding up the canopy," Leitch said.

• Add outdoor water spigots for the watering of new landscaping.

• Cover or remove and block up the former Kmart pharmacy window.

• Remove the fencing in the old Kmart lawn and garden area and fill the fence post holes.

Freeman said the closing on the building sale should happen in June. He also said he can't reveal the purchase price because it's against U-Haul company policy.

Steve Stein can be reached at 248-224-2616 or stevestein21@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpartanSteve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Former Morton Kmart store in Morton, IL to become a U-Haul facility