The Rainforest Cafe is seen Thursday on North Clark Street in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune )

The Rainforest Cafe at Woodfield Mall is closing Jan. 1 and the chain’s Chicago location, marked by a giant green frog, could be endangered in a couple of years.

The restaurant at Schaumburg’s Woodfield Mall will cease operations “due to a natural lease expiration,” Don Hart, vice president of operations of the specialty restaurant division at Landry’s Restaurants, said in an email.

“We value our employees, their dedication to our company and are working to relocate them to our sister properties throughout the Chicago area including Rainforest Cafe Downtown and Gurnee Mills, Morton’s The Steakhouse, McCormick and Schmick’s, Bill’s Bar and Burger, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.,” he said.

The company said it has no plans to close its Chicago or Gurnee restaurants.

But the owner of the building in Chicago said he is planning a new use for the site when the restaurant’s lease at 605 N. Clark St. ends. There is about two years left on the lease, after which the site will be developed for a new retail tenant or a high-rise, property owner Sean Conlon said.

The two-story building has long been known for the 27-foot-long, red-eyed frog named “Cha! Cha!” that sits atop the Rainforest Cafe exterior sign. When it opened in 1997, there was a public uproar about the building’s colorful exterior, causing Rainforest creator Steve Schussler to lament to the Tribune: “Nowhere, and I mean nowhere, has the reception been as mean.”

A venture led by Conlon, chairman of Chicago-based Conlon & Co., bought the 22,000-square-foot building on Clark Street for about $13.7 million in July 2015, according to Cook County property records.

“Rainforest was cutting edge for its time,” Conlon said in an email. “So was the Walkman and breakdancing. The one constant is that the site is one of the best locations in Chicago. I am exploring options but nothing set yet.”

Ireland native Conlon is one of the most colorful characters in Chicago real estate, known for his role in the CNBC house-flipping reality TV show “The Deed.”

Conlon said he could sell the property to a developer or bring in a development partner.

Other low-rise buildings in the area have been razed and replaced with residential or hotel high-rises in recent years, including the former Ed Debevic’s diner at 640 N. Wells St. That business, like the Rainforest, was popular among tourists.

Themed restaurants tend to have a short lifespan, said Bob Goldin, head of Chicago-based food industry consultancy Pentallect. An entertaining setting can get diners in the door but is no guarantee they’ll come back, especially since the food at themed restaurants often isn’t a great value, he said.

lzumbach@chicagotribune.com