Downtown Park Forest

Originally built as Park Forest Plaza in the late 1940s-early 1950s, the outdoor shopping center was the heart of the planned community and ultimately included three department stores and lots of smaller shops. It fell on hard times in the 1970s and '80s, and the village took over the property in 1995 and has been re-creating it as a "traditional" downtown. It now has a five-screen movie theater, a live theater, an art gallery and a variety of small stores, services and offices. New "urban-style" homes are being built on an area of the former shopping center parking lot.