Eastland Center targeted for demolition

[GPCharles]

Per Crain's. Can't get through their paywall to add the article.

[Maof]

This makes me sad but doesn't surprise me. No anchor stores and maybe a dozen stores within the mall? Spent a lot of time there as a young teen hanging out with friends. When I got my first big girl job, I went every other Saturday [[pay day). Mom worked in the candy/pantry department at Hudsons and my sister worked in the salon on the 4th floor.

[313WX]

This makes me sad but doesn't surprise me. No anchor stores and maybe a dozen stores within the mall? Spent a lot of time there as a young teen hanging out with friends. When I got my first big girl job, I went every other Saturday [[pay day). Mom worked in the candy/pantry department at Hudsons and my sister worked in the salon on the 4th floor.

Technically, Shoppers World does occupy the anchor spot that once belonged to Montgomery Ward.

But yeah, other than that, it was only a matter of time before the place got put out of its misery.

Not sure how I feel about the warehouses though, smack dab in the middle of a residential area. I would have liked to see it become a lifestyle center [[those Lowe's, K&G Fashion and Home Depot stores all still do very good business) or even a mixed-used development like at Northland.

[Danny]

What the -----

The rumors are true.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...ex/5326348001/

When the hoods of Detroit and Harper Woods gone ghetto. And the East 7 Mile Bloods turn some areas into their 'Red Zones'. I'm not sure that Eastland Mall would ever survive another decade.

20 years ago Eastland Mall was booming with businesses. Now it's dead like Northland Mall. There goes Hudson's Dream.

[NSortzi]

I’m surprised it lasted this long. Wasn’t it supposed to close years ago?

[Former_Detroiter]

I figured Eastland was doomed when Shopper's World moved in.

[EastsideAl]

Malls everywhere, even in economically stable areas, are dying. It's a type of shopping experience whose days are very much numbered. I'm really surprised Eastland held on this long, but I suppose there's less real estate pressure for that land than some other dying/dead malls.

Still, I'll miss it. It was part of my childhood and adolescence. I remember taking the long ride out there with my mother or my friends on the Vernor bus. Then later driving out there myself with friends to hang out, go to the movies, eat, and buy stuff. I will always miss the ambience and design of the old open Eastland and Northland.

[jcole]

I used to walk over there a couple times a week all through HS to shop the make up counter at Hudson's, eat hot fudge cream puffs at Sanders, FF at the Kresge counter, buy clothes and MaryAnne's and tins of tea at the Hudson's Pantry store. It was a huge part of my teen years and I'm sad to see it go for that reason. It truly has outlived it's usefulness, though

[expatriate]

What goes around comes around. The malls destroyed downtown department stores and now it is their turn to be killed by Amazon.

[Lowell]

From the Crains Article:

The site of the struggling Eastland Center shopping mall in Harper Woods would be turned into a new industrial/warehouse development under a proposal being considered by the city planning commission.


Riverside, Mo.-based developer NorthPoint Development LLC is asking for a planned unit development for the enclosed mall at 18000 Vernier, part of its vision to ultimately raze it and build about 1.03 million square feet of speculative industrial/warehouse space across three buildings on the site, according to site plans Crain's reviewed Wednesday morning.


A formal announcement of the vision is expected Thursday morning at the mall following the planning commission meeting Wednesday that begins at 7 p.m.


Under the plans, which include NorthPoint Development's name on them, a 514,000-square-foot building would be built on 36 acres of the site, while 310,000 square feet would be built on 24.1 acres and 207,000 square feet would be built on 18.8 acres, leaving another 15 acres undeveloped.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...ing-news-alert

[Lowell]

Warehouses for distributing goods that people used go to malls to buy?

[Jimaz]

Warehouses for distributing goods that people used go to malls to buy?

I have heard that idea proposed for failing malls in general.

We seem to be going through some new socioeconomic upheaval from multiple causes. Covid19 alone exposed weak links all over the economy. "Just in time inventory" with all its supposed efficiency has been exposed as an embarrassing cause of inefficient shortages [LSI chips, PPE, etc., things with long shelf lives].

Businesses have been blaming extended unemployment benefits for workers' reluctance to return to work but now we're learning that states without extended benefits were having the same problem. It's a "take this job and shove it" economy, as one analyst put it.

Experiencing work life without having to commute to work has a lot of people reprioritizing where they really want to live.

There is a lot of reexamination of stale "wisdom" going on right now.

[401don]

Warehouses for distributing goods that people used go to malls to buy?

The more talk there is about the environment the more companies invent products and services to be more wasteful. I know so may people who say they just order 2 sizes of shoes, clothes, etc. or keep ordering and returning until they get what they want. All of these trucks driving to people's homes and then when they return the stuff half of it goes straight to landfills instead of being restocked. Not to mention all the electronics, appliances, etc. made to be disposable. It's depressing. I think I'll go get a bottle of water.

[313WX]

I saw the press conference that the city of Harper Woods gave about this project, and it was kind of a mess.

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/har...and-mall-space

For starters, no one was prepared to give a presentation or speech, which caused it to drag on forever. But also, I thought it was unnecessary for so many of those individuals to be there [[what do the school superintendents or police chief have to do with this?).

[softailrider]

What goes around comes around. The malls destroyed downtown department stores and now it is their turn to be killed by Amazon.

Walk into Somerset mall any day of the week, Amazon has a ways to go to kill that one.

[mikefmich]

I played there when it was woods/swamp. Walked from HS for lunch, first real job was at Sanders. Very happy when it was built because it saved me from ma dragging me all the way to Northland.

Kinda surreal it will likely come down.

[401don]

Walk into Somerset mall any day of the week, Amazon has a ways to go to kill that one.

That's the direction it's going in most metros though, with a couple of destination malls surviving. Lots of mid-priced chains have already gone bankrupt and if the remainder in these malls don't do significant on-line business also there may not be enough locations left across the country to be profitable.

[Zacha341]

Interesting... I'd heard more in going to land-fils per the return policies. I even know of people purchasing multiples with full intention of returning per sizing. I personally hate the packaging waste!

....All of these trucks driving to people's homes and then when they return the stuff half of it goes straight to landfills instead of being restocked. Not to mention all the electronics, appliances, etc. made to be disposable. It's depressing. I think I'll go get a bottle of water.

[eastland]

I saw the press conference that the city of Harper Woods gave about this project, and it was kind of a mess.

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/har...and-mall-space

For starters, no one was prepared to give a presentation or speech, which caused it to drag on forever. But also, I thought it was unnecessary for so many of those individuals to be there [[what do the school superintendents or police chief have to do with this?).

I was there and there was no presentation by the developer. Very odd.

[bartocktoo]

What goes around comes around. The malls destroyed downtown department stores and now it is their turn to be killed by Amazon.

Um...no they didn't. Sprawl and being top-heavy did. The malls came after the people moved, not the other way around.

[stasu1213]

I wished that the mall could be spared and renovated into some type of municpal center and probably fitted with restuarants and such. I wondered if the former Mayor of Haper Woods would had allowed the razing of Eastland

[Onthe405]

Considering much of the vicinity surrounding Eastland is endless acres of vacant "urban prairie", HW would be wise to jump on just about any offer to invest in the area. Tolerably attractive warehousing doesn't dazzle, but it's practical as a component of the tax base mix, and possibly a ticket to survival.

The City of Detroit should be so lucky as to receive similar offers. It would provide jobs, without the battle of competing to attract retail, restaurant, and office tenants---an uphill climb, given the over-saturated and tenuous state of those markets.

I will always miss the ambience and design of the old open Eastland and Northland.

Understandably, they succumbed to the pressure of competition from the surrounding enclosed malls-- which had multiple anchors and more suited to the Great Lakes climate. Still, I agree Al, the "soul" of Eastland & Northland were removed when Gruen's original mid-century designs were bastardized. When they opened, there was architectural continuity, particularly across the more prominent structures like JLH, B.Siegel, and Stouffer's.

The fountains and impeccably-maintained flowerbeds were fallow for a large portion of the year. However, when they were in season, it made for a much more beautiful setting than any of the indoor malls, including current ones like Somerset, which is the supposed "gold standard" of SE Michigan. As anchors and out islands were added, each with their own aesthetic, a hodge-podge of inconsistent design ensued.

Ironically, with "mid-century revival" all the rage, had the original design remained intact, they may have been able to leverage that feature as a tourist attraction.

[Zacha341]

Well Lowe's and Home Depot will remain and this is one of the areas where you have them so close together -- which is great when price-comparing!

[Honky Tonk]

Well Lowe's and Home Depot will remain and this is one of the areas where you have them so close together -- which is great when price-comparing!

It's just the trek from one to the other through the parking lot that's, uh, interesting.

[Zacha341]

Hello HT! Yes, how true. I was just over there Friday and did 'both' stores. Said to see the mall go down. I grew up with malls, mostly Northland being a west-sider.

I knew it would not be long when Burlington closed due the shooting and then Macy's....