If you drove the 1.8 miles or so from Cress Creek to the shopping center at North Aurora Road and Raymond Drive this weekend, what would you find? You'd find one new store open, a center with a new name on the way, and a list of announced tenants that has grown longer than the list of open doors.
The center at 1523 N. Aurora Road, long known as Riverbrook Shopping Center, is becoming Asia Market. Riverbrook declined after it lost its grocery store, and the redevelopment is built around a new one. Until that store opens, the rest of the center is waiting on it.
A center that emptied out when its grocer left
When Houston-based NewQuest Asia-Pacific Retail bought the property in spring 2023, it was a 27-year-old, 19.8-acre site with 140,892 square feet of retail space. NCTV17 described it as "largely empty" in January 2024.
The Naperville Development Partnership gave a more exact number. At the time of acquisition, the center was about 35% leased after its former grocery anchor closed. A neighborhood center depends on its grocery store for the weekly trips, and the coffee shops, sandwich counters and casual restaurants nearby benefit from that traffic. When the grocer left, so did the main reason for regular visits.
That explains why NewQuest's January 2024 plans mentioned an "as-yet-unnamed specialty grocer" as a tenant before the grocer was publicly named. Heather Nguyen, development partner with NewQuest, said the aim was "finding the right demographic in an area with a regional draw. Being close to the Metra is an added bonus." Building for a regional draw starts with a grocer big enough to pull shoppers from beyond the surrounding blocks.
The replacement anchor is more than twice the size of the store that's open
That grocer turned out to be 99 Ranch Market. The NDP describes a 40,000-square-foot store and the chain's first location in Illinois. The chain was founded in 1984 and has recently expanded into markets including New York City and Portland. The NDP lists the Naperville store's planned offerings as Asian groceries, fresh seafood, prepared foods and specialty items.
For scale, TESO Life, the first new tenant to open, was reported in 2024 at 18,016 square feet. The grocery store will be more than twice that size. It is the tenant meant to bring people back to the center every week.
Monica Conners, president of the Naperville Development Partnership, told NCTV17 in early October that the center is attracting brands that are "really not looking [at] very many other places in Illinois." 99 Ranch is the clearest case. If you want what it sells, you currently have no Illinois store to go to.
How the opening date has moved
The schedule has shifted more than once. Here is each published target in order:
- January 2024. NewQuest planned a summer 2025 grand opening.
- January 2026. The NDP said openings would start in 2026, with several tenants aiming for the third quarter.
- March 2026. Fat Miilk owner Lan Ho told What Now Chicago she expected to open around June or July.
- October 2026. Conners told NCTV17 that 99 Ranch, Fat Miilk and Tokyo Shokudo will open by early 2027.
Some of the infrastructure work has been documented. The NDP has reported added electrical capacity for restaurant tenants, along with facade and landscaping upgrades. City permit records also show a $400,000 permit issued July 9, 2026, for Suite 119 at 1523 N. Aurora Road. The permit does not name a tenant, and none of these updates gives a reason for the later dates. As of late September, NewQuest's own leasing page for "Asia MKT at Naperville" still listed the property's status as "Lease."
The center is under construction, and its biggest tenant is due a few months from now.
Where each tenant stands as of mid-October
Open now
- TESO Life, 1555 N. Aurora Road, Suite 113. It opened July 11, 2026, and sells Asian beauty and skincare products, snacks and drinks, collectibles and home goods. According to the NDP, it is one of only two TESO Life stores in Illinois.
Expected by early 2027
- 99 Ranch Market, the grocery anchor and the chain's first Illinois store.
- Fat Miilk Coffee, a Vietnamese coffee brand Lan Ho founded in 2020. She pitched it to Gordon Ramsay on Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars. The Naperville shop will be the second location, after the original at 5018 N. Broadway in Uptown, which opened in 2024. The menu includes phin drip coffees, robusta espressos and an egg coffee topped with a custard-like foam.
- Tokyo Shokudo, a Japanese restaurant the NDP describes as a casual, neighborhood-style menu.
Announced, with no date yet
- Ba Le Sandwiches, which the NDP lists among the center's Chicago-based tenants with an established following.
- CHICHA San Chen, which was named in October as a coming addition.
On the January list, with no newer update
- Gen Korean BBQ, a national brand with grills at the table, and Kitakata Ramen. Both were in the NDP's initial list of confirmed tenants in January 2026. Neither appeared in NCTV17's October report, so their timing is unknown for now.
Over the longer term, the plan calls for more than 20 businesses at the center, including restaurants, shops and experience-based uses. Eight have been named publicly so far.
What the trip is worth from Cress Creek right now
From the middle of Cress Creek, the drive is about 1.8 miles.
For now, TESO Life is the reason to go, for skincare, snacks or a gift. If you're curious about Fat Miilk before the Naperville shop opens, the original location at 5018 N. Broadway in Uptown has been open since 2024.
The bigger change comes when 99 Ranch opens. A 40,000-square-foot grocery store with fresh seafood and prepared foods will give the center the regular visits it lost when the last grocer closed. Fat Miilk and Tokyo Shokudo are on the same early-2027 timeline, so the grocery store, a coffee shop and a Japanese restaurant could all open within a few months of each other.
Until then, the most useful date for anyone tracking the center is the 99 Ranch opening. Conners told NCTV17 in October that it will open by early 2027.
At Bill White Homes, we keep track of changes like this around Cress Creek, from a new grocery store down the road to a center getting a second start. If you want to know how nearby openings figure into a future sale or purchase, get in touch and we'll walk through it with you.
