Chicago Merchandise Mart to Feature a Mall : Commerce: The giant commercial building will devote the first two floors to 85 retailers anchored by Carson Pirie Scott & Co.

CHICAGO —  The Merchandise Mart, the world’s largest commercial building and a Chicago landmark for six decades, has become a mecca for interior designers and wholesale buyers. But its exclusive shops and showrooms have been strictly off limits to the public.

That will change in the summer of 1991, when the first two floors of the historic building on the Chicago River just north of Chicago’s Loop will open as a shopping mall.

“Although the Mart has always had a retail service component, the building has long had the image of being off limits to the public. That image will now change,” said Maurice Fisher, president of JMB Properties Urban Co., which acted as development consultant on the mall project.

When completed, the 265,000-square-foot mall--to be known as “The Shops at the Mart”--will have 85 retail tenants.

Above the two-level mall, however, the remaining floors of the 4.2-million-square-foot, 25-story structure will remain devoted to wholesale showrooms and offices.

The Mart was built by Marshall Field, who envisioned it as a single national wholesale center under one roof. It was purchased in 1946 by Joseph P. Kennedy and remains the property of the politically prominent Massachusetts family.

The Mart contains more square footage than any other commercial building in the world. Only the Pentagon has more.

Philip E. Kelley, president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., said the building will undergo extensive remodeling--including construction of a new grand entrance--to accommodate the new retail mall.

Work on the $50-million makeover of the Mart’s first two floors is slated to begin this spring and take a little more than a year. The new mall is scheduled to open in the summer of 1991.

The overall interior design of the mall will remain faithful to the Art Deco character of the building. But the project involves significant physical changes both inside and outside the 60-year-old building, including the addition of five new entrances.

The $50-million mall project is in addition to a $100-million, 10-year project to restore and renovate the Mart.

The massive restoration project began in 1985 and is slated for completion in 1994.

The mall is to be anchored by Carson Pirie Scott & Co., which plans to occupy more than 50,000 square feet, and The Limited, which is to divide 23,500 square feet among several subsidiaries.

Thirty other retailers also have signed commitments for space in the project, which is expected to further bolster the River North retail area.

River North has become the third most popular shopping area in Chicago after North Michigan Avenue and State Street.