Fairlane Town Center facing liquidation

**cmubryan** · February-03-21, 08:29 PM

Unfortunately, I am not a member of Crain's but I see in the first few sentences that Fairlane is potentially facing liquidation! Anyone have any insider info here? The mall still seems viable with two anchors open [[Macy's and JCPenney as well as Ford offices in the former L&T wing). https://www.crainsdetroit.com/voices...enters-bleaker

**Danny** · February-04-21, 07:36 AM

I remember the first time I went to Fairlane Mall in 1987 on a school trip to the Movies at Fairlane to see a flick. When the Movies at Fairlane was brought by United Artists in 1990 I went to see The Adams Family Movie and in 1996 to see Independence Day. By the late 1990's The U.A. Theatre Closed and in 1999 Star Theaters Opened. Went to see most of the flicks from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone to The Sum of All Fears Then AMC came in and brought the theater and made the place became boring!

However inside Fairlane. There were shops galore. Lord and Taylor, Sears, Saks Fifth Ave. JCPenney and the lots of cool exotic stores. The Food Cafe came in to attract teen crowd and every Saturday lots of teens [[ especially) the riff raffs from the ghettoes from Detroit were crowding in the Mall. After series of fights and arrests. Taubman Co. decided to strict curfew of keeping kids out after 5pm. every day unless they are with a adult escort.

Later Lord and Taylor closed was turn the unless Ford Motor Company Annex and also closed. Saks closed and demolished into an Italian and Chinese Bistros. Sears closed and whole second floor at the Atrium was turn into a H&M Clothier. Fairlane has its time and memories and most of Mall rates are shifting to fancy exotic malls like Somerset and Great Lakes Crossing. And soon it will be on the list of dead malls like Tel-Twelve, Universal Mall, Livonia Mall, Wonderland Mall and the once Historic Northland Mall.

**Danny** · February-04-21, 07:44 AM

BTW...Most of us are not Crain's subscribers.

**KnnNike** · February-04-21, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

I remember the first time I went to Fairlane Mall in 1987 on a school trip to the Movies at Fairlane to see a flick. When the Movies at Fairlane was brought by United Artists in 1990 I went to see The Adams Family Movie and in 1996 to see Independence Day. By the late 1990's The U.A. Theatre Closed and in 1999 Star Theaters Opened. Went to see most of the flicks from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone to The Sum of All Fears Then AMC came in and brought the theater and made the place became boring!

However inside Fairlane. There were shops galore. Lord and Taylor, Sears, Saks Fifth Ave. JCPenney and the lots of cool exotic stores. The Food Cafe came in to attract teen crowd and every Saturday lots of teens [[ especially) the riff raffs from the ghettoes from Detroit were crowding in the Mall. After series of fights and arrests. Taubman Co. decided to strict curfew of keeping kids out after 5pm. every day unless they are with a adult escort.

Later Lord and Taylor closed was turn the unless Ford Motor Company Annex and also closed. Saks closed and demolished into an Italian and Chinese Bistros. Sears closed and whole second floor at the Atrium was turn into a H&M Clothier. Fairlane has its time and memories and most of Mall rates are shifting to fancy exotic malls like Somerset and Great Lakes Crossing. And soon it will be on the list of dead malls like Tel-Twelve, Universal Mall, Livonia Mall, Wonderland Mall and the once Historic Northland Mall.

Yup, another pristine suburban landmark ruined by "those people" from Detroit.

Definitely not another racist suburbanite rant, attempting to paint everyone from Detroit with the same brush. Brooks Patterson would be proud...

**Zacha341** · February-04-21, 12:17 PM

I worked in that area -- late 80's early 90's at FOMOCO and it was grand. Most note-worthy was the wrap-around structure of the Hyatt Regency hotel - that at one point sported a walk-way or some thing that connected to Fairlane. Absolutely beautiful building IMO.

Coming south bound from the Michigan avenue slope, mid-day from say at Military it was stunning. Nicely night-lit too - smokey windows and bronze. Very nice at sunset. We spent a new years eve in the rotating bar one year. What a view! Now dead, as dark tomb. Sad.

**Zacha341** · February-04-21, 12:30 PM

It was crazy from teens in Dearborn as well IMO! More of a teen problem in general made more crazy from the layout of the mall - with its narrow walk-ways and criss-cross levels where folks could congregate, cause disruptions and hang-out. I stopped going evenings or weekends towards the end.

Originally Posted by KnnNike

Yup, another pristine suburban landmark ruined by "those people" from Detroit.

Definitely not another racist suburbanite rant, attempting to paint everyone from Detroit with the same brush. Brooks Patterson would be proud...

**Lowell** · February-04-21, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by cmubryan

Unfortunately, I am not a member of Crain's but I see in the first few sentences that Fairlane is potentially facing liquidation...

The article actually about both Fairlane and Partridge Creek

The debt problems with The Mall at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township and Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn are putting the fate of both properties up in the air.

Neither mall — which are about as disparate as they come in terms of age [[about 15 years vs. 45), design [[outdoor vs. indoor) and location [[far-flung suburbs vs. inner-ring suburbs) — has a particularly bright short-term future.

With nearly $900 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities backed by those malls and five others on Miami Beach, Fla.-based owner Starwood Capital Partners' books, the properties are laden with debt and spiraling toward the same fate that has met so many other regional malls in the last 10-15 years: new ownership after financial turmoil.

As one local expert said bluntly in an email to me last week: "They are both equally in the shit can. Both of those properties have outlived their useful life. They are functionally obsolete and will never, ever be turned around. That's just my opinion," said Christopher Brochert, co-owner of Bloomfield Hills-based Lormax-Stern Development Co., which owns shopping centers and malls in Metro Detroit and elsewhere.

Fairlane Town Center has been in receivership since at least May and, along with two other Starwood-owned malls in Virginia and Texas, faces liquidation, according to CMBS loan commentary from New York City-based Trepp LLC, which tracks that kind of data.

Dark clouds

It's not just your standard-fare suburban shopping malls that are feeling the squeeze right now.

Even the so-called Class A malls — think, for example, Somerset Collection in Troy and Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi — have dark clouds over them, according to a new report this week from Newport Beach, Calif.-based Green Street, a firm that analyzes real estate trends.

Overall, the nation's luxury malls — long considered relatively safe considering the upheaval in the retail sector the last decade or more with the rise of e-commerce — have plunged about 45 percent since the peak in 2016

**Zacha341** · February-04-21, 01:11 PM

I wonder how the 'Hill' is doing [[can't recall the actual name but that grouping of stores including a Meijer and Home Depot, Target etc) off WB I-94 Rotunda?

**preserve** · February-04-21, 01:29 PM

No more Pier One or Bed Bath & Beyond, so the Hill has lost some appeal for me and I understand Party City may also be on the way out, did stop at Fairlane the other day to pick up some things at Penneys and was able to park close to the door and didn't have to wait in a long line at the cashier. Other than Penneys, I haven't shopped Fairlane in ages but would still hate to see it close up. I wish there was a Kohl's closer than
Westland or Haggerty Rd [[not sure what suburb that is) or Taylor even.
Prefer the in and out availability of shopping rather than having to traverse a mall with escalators, etc.
Doing way more on line shopping than I ever thought I would.

**Zacha341** · February-04-21, 01:39 PM

^ I am doing more online then before. Once you know brands and fabrics, and the fit and cut or certain things you do ok, if not very well. JC Penney's is all but giving some clothes away -- the prices are so low. Just order online, and easy-pick up. Not sure how long they can sustain that...?

**Hypestyles** · February-04-21, 01:54 PM

hmm.... we'll see what happens of course.

"The Death of Food Courts and What it Means for Socialization"

**Zacha341** · February-04-21, 02:09 PM

^ Ah, yes let me head to the kitchen on that note! I will say we're eating better.

**jackie5275** · February-04-21, 04:10 PM

I shopped Fairlane from the mid 80s to early 2000s & worked at short stint at JC Penney's from late 80s to early 90s. Back in its glory days say when it opened to mid 90s, it was awesome. However, other shopping areas emerged in & around Dearborn that I think took a certain number of shoppers away from Fairlane. They're many other previously cited reasons for the downward spiral of not just Fairlane, but most malls in general.

**KnnNike** · February-04-21, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

It was crazy from teens in Dearborn as well IMO! More of a teen problem in general made more crazy from the layout of the mall - with its narrow walk-ways and criss-cross levels where folks could congregate, cause disruptions and hang-out. I stopped going evenings or weekends towards the end.

I'm sure it was teens [[and non-teens) from cities all across the metro Detroit region. And I doubt teenagers were really the cause of the mall's decline. I'm just so sick of it that whenever there's a problem, the troublemakers are only ever coming from a particular area.

So much has been lost in this region over the last 100 years precisely because of racist and elitist suburbanite attitudes about Detroit...

**Pontiac6000** · February-04-21, 05:34 PM

Grand it was. Shopping at Saks and Lord & Taylor in the early 80s was a thrill. Then, the worst offenses was riding the monorail back and forth too many times. Most of us kids were more worried about being in Dearborn and what would happen just for being...

Trying to shore up all the other shopping areas took away from the small town ambiance of the rest of Dearborn, I think. The mall would have done just fine had Taubman treated it like his top tier mall and brought in more specialty stores. They were doing too much reinventing from the original idea- when Northland closed it should have boomed.

**Richard** · February-04-21, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

It was crazy from teens in Dearborn as well IMO! More of a teen problem in general made more crazy from the layout of the mall - with its narrow walk-ways and criss-cross levels where folks could congregate, cause disruptions and hang-out. I stopped going evenings or weekends towards the end.

That seems the general rule for every mall in the country,they start out fresh,reach the peak then start the downward spiral,it was happening before the internet ordering aspect,that part just sped up the process.

What is worse is when they become low rent indoor flea markets,just before the demo stage.

Cannot really blame it on any particular group outside of when the revenues drop off,security is the first to get cut,then the hooligans take over.

Like in the article a lot of these malls took on heavy debt during the peak years,2008 etc. We are still seeing large malls and businesses crumbling under that expansion debt.

The retail space out there that is vacant is driving down the high rent prices at the malls.

Where I am at,I just leased 6000 sqft showroom/warehouse on a prime corner with a 50,000 a day car count,for $3500 a month,2 years ago they were getting $12,000 a month.

**401don** · February-04-21, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by Richard

That seems the general rule for every mall in the country,they start out fresh,reach the peak then start the downward spiral,it was happening before the internet ordering aspect,that part just sped up the process.

Big box stores put a big dent in malls prior to the internet aspect. A guy could go to Sears for electronics, paint, tools, etc. and then hang out a while looking in bookstores, record stores and maybe buy some clothes. Nothing left in the mall for guys. It's mostly just women's clothes, shoes and jewelry.
Also every time a new exurb was built a new regional mall took business away from existing malls. Then you added discount clothiers like Kohls and Burlington Coat Factory. The amount of retail per sq. foot in the U.S. far outpaces other countries.

**Zacha341** · February-04-21, 06:17 PM

Right! I remember when Northland started to go this way. Even the Macy's had very little stock, compare to others but the biggest furniture display.

Originally Posted by Richard

...What is worse is when they become low rent indoor flea markets, just before the demo stage.

**Meddle** · February-04-21, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

I worked in that area -- late 80's early 90's at FOMOCO and it was grand. Most note-worthy was the wrap-around structure of the Hyatt Regency hotel - that at one point sported a walk-way or some thing that connected to Fairlane.

Monorail. Maybe even a sort of prototype for the People Mover. We used to go there just to ride it. Really had no reason to go to the hotel, so just rode it over and back. I seem to remember they started charging for it if you didn't have a room key.

**EastsideAl** · February-04-21, 09:06 PM

I got my drivers license right about the same time that Fairlane Mall opened. It was really THE place to be then, even for kids from the east side. Although back then some of my black friends wouldn't go there, because Dearborn still had a scary reputation.

In those late '70s days they had shows in one of the interior courts [[I saw Three Dog Night!), an ice rink, movies, and of course that cool monorail several years before the People Mover opened. The layout was very '70s futuristic, and there were stores that a lot of people from my neck of the woods had never seen. As I remember from the original plans, "Town Center" was not just a name, as the mall area was originally supposed to be surrounded by whole new community with lots of new housing. That never really came to pass, at least not then in the giant recession of the '70s.

I also remember the Hyatt, which seemed so modern then. Me and a friend even snuck into a Super Bowl press lunch there when the game was at the Silverdome in 1982, and found ourselves eating shrimp cocktails and little bacon-wrapped filets with Jimmy the Greek.

Weird for someone my age to see it all fall apart in slow motion over the past couple of decades. I am surprised at Partridge Creek though [[although I don't believe I've ever been there), which seems way too brand new to be going the same way.

**Richard** · February-05-21, 11:06 AM

I forgot how the malls were also entertainment centers including shopping experience,the Tiger King guy got his start by doing the mall circuit.

A Canadian company is trying that again with a new mall in south Florida,

The visit by Giménez and other Miami-area leaders came as the development firm continued to meet with county officials about public assistance for the project. A $15 million sewer pipe is needed for plans that include indoor lakes and a ski slope. Amid a changing retail landscape and thriving malls in South Florida, the mall will set itself apart by filling 65% of its space with entertainment options, including an ice-skating rink, aquarium, submarine lake, and roller-skating facility.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/busine...-we-know-when/

It makes one wonder if it is more of a case of the mall owners just not being able to reinvent themselves as it is clear the concept of here we are come visit no longer works.

There are some other Detroit based mall developers that have opened new built malls in Fla.

**casscorridor** · February-05-21, 01:55 PM

Curious, where do [[metro)Detroiters shop for clothes, shoes, etc, if all the malls are going bust?

Is it all really online? Or big box retailers? And neighborhood retail has been dead for decades.

Kind of bleak. Malls, despite being purposed for consumption, are one of the few places people cluster in any sort of "civic" space. And the pandemic has only exacerbated this isolation from our fellow citizen.

**401don** · February-05-21, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by casscorridor

Curious, where do [[metro)Detroiters shop for clothes, shoes, etc, if all the malls are going bust?

Is it all really online? Or big box retailers? And neighborhood retail has been dead for decades.

Kind of bleak. Malls, despite being purposed for consumption, are one of the few places people cluster in any sort of "civic" space. And the pandemic has only exacerbated this isolation from our fellow citizen.

I agree. I'm glad I grew up during the shopping mall heyday. People would go to the mall to kill a couple of hours and have lunch whether they needed to buy anything or not. Yes, some people would complain this led to unnecessary consumption. Often I would go by myself when I was younger and had a weekday off with nothing better to do. Few people go to Walmart without the idea of grabbing what they need and getting out as fast as possible. Malls aren't all dead yet but a couple of mega malls will likely replace the neighborhood malls where young people could hop a bus or go over after school. The trend to casual clothing, athletic wear, even wearing sneakers with suits, isn't helping either.

**Zacha341** · February-05-21, 02:28 PM

^ Awesome points 401! Northland had a small garden area you could just sit in and drink a pop or just take in the sun. It was uncovered and just great! I used to love to people watch on the general benches and seating areas in between shopping, and the decor at Fairlane was grand and sunny.

Yep, hanging out at 'the Walmart' - UGH! Nope. I would not even eat Subway in those joints. I just want to get my goods - get out fast as possible.

Casual? It's beyond casual. Folks are nearly wearing their pajamas and house-shoes! Which is so un-hygienic to me. Ick.

**Zacha341** · February-05-21, 02:35 PM

Forman Mills! I'm not joking. They have some OK casual clothes among the trash and crap. F-Mills is but a knock-off, lower-rent version of the other retail clothing gleaners like TJ Maxx, Burlington and Marshalls etc. I purchased a Calvin Klein suit jacket there. The slacks were oddly missing but hey! And they have stayed in the city when other merchants bugged-out long ago!

They even have some house wear, soaps, lotions, shoes, etc. Each location varies. I've always preferred the Conner location on the east side.

Originally Posted by casscorridor

Curious, where do [[metro) Detroiter's shop for clothes, shoes, etc, if all the malls are going bust?