It's Over-Northland to Close

[Scottathew]

I wonder what will be next for the property.

Universal Mall in Warren seems to have successfully converted itself to a different, but similar use.

[gameguy56]

I wonder what will be next for the property.

Universal Mall in Warren seems to have successfully converted itself to a different, but similar use.

same with wonderland mall in livonia and tel-12 in southfield

[313WX]

Will have to plan a trip there when its official closing date is announced to take pictures.

[313WX]

It doesn't make any sense to have 2 threads for the same topic.

Can't this one just be merged into the original thread and the original thread's title be changed.

If one ever expects there to be a discussion that never goes off-topic a time or two, then they really need to adjust their expectations...

[Vic01]

I think that "It's Over-Northland to Close" is worthy of a new thread, if only so folks don't have to wade through 100 post [[on or off topic) of misc thoughts just to get to the bottom line...
"Northland Center opened in March 1954. 60 years later, a judge has ordered the shopping mall to close this year".

[Shai_Hulud]

It doesn't make any sense to have 2 threads for the same topic.

Three. Northland Target closing, Macy's Northland closing, and now this one.

[BankruptcyGuy]

I agree completely with your conclusion. The first sentence of yours, though, represents a near impossibility; the property is tied up in bankruptcy and nothing happens quickly in a bankruptcy. The receiver wants to secure the property and then market it as quickly as possible, but unfortunately courts get to determine how quickly is "as quickly as possible".

Professor, which entity is in bankruptcy? This is being handled by Oakland County Circuit Court, not a BK court, I think.

[BankruptcyGuy]

Exactly. Some "international developer" will propose zeppelin rides, an international trade center, or something similarly wacky.

The most likely scenario is a "de-malling" of the property. The issue is the $300,000 ish a month that it costs to run the indoor portion. You can see this project working out similar to the Livonia Mall redevelopment into Livonia Marketplace [[Wal-Mart, Sears, Kohl's, etc.)

That redevelopment isn't possible without everyone being kicked out.

This is not at all unique, not to this area and not to the United States. It's happening everywhere.

[MAcc]

It'll cost too much to tear it down. It'll rot for the next 20+ years. That immediate area will be a dump for the rest of our lives.

[admin]

Lest we forget... Wonderland Mall

It was de-malled, as BankruptcyGuy put it, was demolished and the site is revived.

All just part of the Great Mandela of Capitalism.

[animatedmartian]

The difference between Northland Mall and Wonderland mall and others mentioned is that Northland is pretty huge. I could imagine a big box store taking up a section of the land, probably facing Greenfield. But there's going to be a lot of empty space and it's going to take some creativity to effectively put it to good use.

Also, while Northland did pretty much suffer the same problem that other malls are facing, the owners also didn't really show any initiative on trying to fight the problems. I mean, it wouldn't have been that hard for them to get in a movie theater and something like an Aquarium ala Great Lakes Crossing. If there's going to be an Applesbees at 8 Mile and Woodward, they could have attracted a whole basket of similar restaurants if they actually put money into the mall. But for whatever reason, they just choose not to go that route. It is what it is.

[Hypestyles]

what happened to that church that supposedly rented out the JC Penney space? Is that over?

...Is the food court totally closed? which joint is still hanging on?

[313WX]

what happened to that church that supposedly rented out the JC Penney space? Is that over?

...Is the food court totally closed? which joint is still hanging on?

To answer your first question, yes [[from what I hear).

The last remaining food court restaurant is Charley's Grilled Subs...

[G-DDT]

I am still not liking the idea of some mega-church mall...

Anyway, I see lots of photos and images. Does anyone have any personal photos of the mall from back when-maybe when it was open-air, or the old Hudson's Christmas displays [[or dining area), or even the Jungle Book statue in the mall?

Please, yes, post soon....

[313WX]

I am still not liking the idea of some mega-church mall...

Anyway, I see lots of photos and images. Does anyone have any personal photos of the mall from back when-maybe when it was open-air, or the old Hudson's Christmas displays [[or dining area), or even the Jungle Book statue in the mall?

Please, yes, post soon....

The Free Press included this one with one of their articles [[I'm guessing from the early-mid 1980?)...

[EastsideAl]

Sad, and the end of an era. This same fate will soon befall Eastland too, I'm afraid. With the success of Gateway, is it possible that something like that would work in replacing Northalnd? It would be a shame to leave that land empty or nearly empty, or worse leave an empty ghost mall sitting there for several years.

[Dexlin]

The mayor of Southfield has basically said without saying that if they can get their hands on the property, they will. It's been quite a few years back, but Southfield did do a formal plan for the area around Northland reimagining it as the "Cornerstone" district. So, it's not as if they've never considered how to plan for the area's future, or don't have anything to fall back on if not private developer snaps it up. I'm sure they didn't want to see this happen to the mall, but it's not like this area has been forgotten.

I do think some folks [[the usual suspects here and in comment sections of newspapers) are overplaying the the decline of this particular area of time. This area could fairly easily support an open-air "power center" as they call them. It's not as if the Target in the mall has failed. It's just that the mall is too much space for the current demand in the area, but it's not as if there is not a demand for a retail center, here. Retailers have long made the mistake with Detroit of underestimating the spending power in the city and inner-ring, and are just now rediscovering their error.

This idea that an area sitting by the intersections of the Lodge, the Southfield and 8 Mile is just going to lie fallow for decades as if we're talking about Mack Avenue in Detroit is silly, particularly with the city of Southfield actually posting population growth, again.

[Onthe405]

Christmastime circa early 1960s



Original signage in the 1950s/1960s JL Hudson logo lettering style



Stylish 1960s ladies shopping

[iheartthed]

it wouldn't have been that hard for them to get in a movie theater and something like an Aquarium ala Great Lakes Crossing.

There was a movie theater that sat a half mile from Northland for decades which preceded it in death -- killed off by the Star Theater. They have managed to find a good reuse of the land where it sat. I have no doubt that Southfield will do something useful with the Northland property. The city has been pretty efficient about de-industrializing itself...

[Danny]

There was a movie theater that sat a half mile from Northland for decades which preceded it in death -- killed off by the Star Theater. They have managed to find a good reuse of the land where it sat. I have no doubt that Southfield will do something useful with the Northland property. The city has been pretty efficient about de-industrializing itself...

That would be AMC Americana Theater.

[Bham1982]

That would be AMC Americana Theater.

And that movie theater had a shootout not too long before shutting down. I think they had metal detectors in at the end. I guess that's a slice of gun crazy "Americana" right there.

[EastsideAl]

That would be AMC Americana Theater.

There was also the Northland Theater, which was right across the street from the shopping center to the north. The theater was huge and often ran exclusive shows of big wide-screen roadshow movies. I remember seeing Funny Girl and Fiddler on the Roof there. It was later twinned and ran first-run films into the late '80s.

The building is still standing [[renamed Millennium Theatre), on what is now the campus of Providence Hospital. It seems to be in regular use by Triumph Church.

Eastland also had its own theater, of very much the same design.

[G-DDT]

Thank you 313 and 405. There's the bookstore that only carried the comics books of an overlooked Australian cartoon form the '80s called "Snake" [[or was it Waldenbooks?). Please keep 'em comin', folks-especially if you have personal ones [[yes, I have personal snaps of the Fairlane Towncenter and it's weird sculptures in front of the department stores-wish I had snapped them back when there was a monorail to the Hyatt).

Yeah, I remember seeing Gremlins and most of the Indianan Jones flicks at the Americana.

[313WX]

Eastland also had its own theater, of very much the same design.

It was torn down for the Lowes back in the early/mid 2000s.

Eastland also had an indoor movie theatre in its far east wing near the original food court. The theatre also closed in the early 2000s, but the entire wing wasn't demolished until the mid 2000s [[all demolished for Burlington Coat Factory and Lowes).

Then of course there was Beacon East across the street, which closed just a couple years [[it is now a WCCCD campus).

[313WX]

Both Eastland and Northland were very nice and healthy shopping centers [[huge variety of retailers) as recently as the late 90s, when the economy in Michigan was booming and Detroit had slowed its decline.

In hindsight, it's sad to see how much they've declined since then.