Lighting improvements across a retail destination.
LH Block Electric completed an exterior lighting upgrade at Kendall Marketplace, a multi-tenant shopping center at U.S. Route 34 and Cannonball Trail. Working with Mid-America Asset Management, our team replaced aging lighting across the parking areas, rear service areas, and storefronts while adding networked controls and addressing underground electrical repairs.
The project brought together installation, ComEd incentive coordination, and lighting adjustments suited to the property’s surroundings.
Updating lighting across the property
Different areas of the shopping center called for different approaches. Parking-lot lighting required new LED fixtures, the rear of the property needed more controlled light distribution, and the storefronts needed upgrades that retained their architectural character.
- Parking areas: Replaced 74 existing metal-halide fixture heads with LED area-light heads.
- Rear building elevations: Replaced 41 older fixtures with full-cutoff LED wall packs.
- Storefronts: Converted 51 decorative wall sconces to LED while retaining their original housings, and installed four replacement architectural sconces.
Networked lighting controls added occupancy sensing and daylight-responsive operation. Wireless gateways and signal extenders connected the system across the property.
Project challenges & solutions
Coordinating the ComEd incentive process
The property management team wanted a contractor who could handle both the electrical work and the requirements associated with ComEd’s energy-efficiency incentives. That coordination was a key reason LH Block was selected.
Our team worked directly with ComEd, coordinated the necessary preapprovals, and completed equipment documentation and application paperwork to pursue the available incentives for qualifying lighting and controls. This gave management one point of coordination for the installation and incentive process.
Controlling light near neighboring homes
A residential development behind the shopping center made light distribution an important part of the project.
Full-cutoff wall packs directed light downward into the rear service areas. Seven shields on selected parking-lot fixtures further limited illumination toward neighboring homes. These measures addressed light spill at the property boundary while providing illumination where the shopping center needed it.
Restoring an underground lighting feed
Following the retrofit, troubleshooting identified a failed underground circuit serving a parking-lot light pole.
LH Block installed approximately 265 feet of new underground conduit and wiring, using directional boring beneath an existing roadway. The repair restored the pole’s electrical feed while limiting the need to open paved surfaces along the route.
The completed installation
Kendall Marketplace now has LED lighting tailored to its parking areas, storefronts, and rear service spaces, with controls that respond to occupancy and daylight. The project preserved the appearance of existing decorative fixtures where practical and addressed both boundary lighting concerns and a failed underground feed.
For property management, the work combined a substantial exterior lighting upgrade with the utility coordination needed to support the investment.