Any hope that the 355 extension would result in anything other than typical suburban sprawl (accompanied by the usual economic-development backstabbing) swallowing up huge swaths of Will County farmland are already disappearing under an advancing slab of cement. Okay, so the proposal sounds more like a “lifestyle center” than an enclosed mall (that dying breed, even here in the frigid north), but it’s sprawl nonetheless. Stanley Ziemba reports in the Tribune:

A regional outdoor shopping mall larger than the one in Oak Brook is being planned for land now used for agriculture near U.S Highway 6 and Cedar Road in New Lenox.

Village officials said Thursday they are negotiating with a major commercial real estate developer for the development near a planned interchange along the Interstate Highway 355 extension under construction…

The development — which could include a half-dozen or more major retailers and dozens of smaller retailers, restaurants, theaters and other amenities and attractions found in upscale malls — could be larger than Oakbrook Center, the west suburban mall that opened in 1962, which is about 2 million square feet…

Earlier this week during the village annual breakfast meeting at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox, Smith said the developer already has a contract to buy 280 acres near the proposed Interstate 355 interchange. Because the site is not near homes, no major outcries from local residents are anticipated, he said.

The construction of the center could be completed by the time the U.S. 6-Cedar Road interchange is finished in 2007, Lowman said.

The 12.5 mile Interstate 355 extension, linking Interstate Highway 55 near Bolingbrook with Interstate Highway 80 in New Lenox, long has been viewed as a potential catalyst for economic development within and near the communities of Lockport, Lemont, Homer Glen, Bolingbrook and New Lenox.