Oakland Mall Sold, Youthful New Owner Plans Dramatic Renovation

[Lowell]

Can brick and mortar retail malls survive with innovation? This young guy does. Thoughts? And how do you get that much financial leverage at that age?

The new 31-year-old owner of Oakland Mall in Troy said Monday that he intends to gradually transform it into an “antimall” that will appeal to young people of the TikTok generation and feature new, unique and affordable entertainment options for families.

Whether his fresh ideas and energy can save the mid-tier shopping mall from the downward spirals that have befallen similar metro Detroit malls amid an onslaught of online competition is a big question. “We feel like this is one of the sleepiest sites in metro Detroit, and we are going to wake it up. This mall has so much potential,” Mario Kiezi.
https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...cddb68_13483cd

[hybridy]

The trend for these larger properties is to reduce the percentage of retail and morph them into more dining & entertainment spaces with a larger mix of housing, hotel and medical clinic uses. He doesn't mention outlet development, but the moonscape of surface parking could support tons of housing in a central location near lots of services.

[Genesyxx]

I've always wondered why there isn't more of a collaboration between local incubators and management companies to fill the spaces part time. When the Westland Mini Mall opened up in a strip mall a mile away from the actual mall that is 30% occupied, it blew my mind. Partner with the city, open up a suite to a couple of places, gain some foot traffic. Seems too simple.

[casscorridor]

So basically a new paint job? Lol

This reminds me of when they added "weird" metal structures in the middle of Washington Blvd to try to save that shopping area.

[softailrider]

So basically a new paint job? Lol

This reminds me of when they added "weird" metal structures in the middle of Washington Blvd to try to save that shopping area.

Didn't they also cut it off from vehicle traffic?

[dtowncitylover]

Antimall? HAH!

You're putting lipstick on a pig, dude. A mall is a mall. You can't change it just because there's pretty lights and live music on Friday.

“We are what I call the anti-mall. And we have the right people in place here today to set forth the future. I will say we are closer to 2040 than we are to 2000, and that is what we're going to create here.”

None of this means anything. Who cares if 2040 is closer than 2000? What exactly are they going to create? 2040? A mall for TikTokers? Why am I supposed to care about Tiktokers?

[401don]

Where have we heard all this before? Oh yeah, the Silverdome. At least this guy's a local and not an out of towner.

[jcole]

Yeah, Coleman Young's giant red erector set? it messed with traffic; I think it may have been roughly at the same time they tried to turn Woodward into a pedestrian mall

Didn't they also cut it off from vehicle traffic?

[Richard]

Antimall? HAH!

You're putting lipstick on a pig, dude. A mall is a mall. You can't change it just because there's pretty lights and live music on Friday.

“We are what I call the anti-mall. And we have the right people in place here today to set forth the future. I will say we are closer to 2040 than we are to 2000, and that is what we're going to create here.”

None of this means anything. Who cares if 2040 is closer than 2000? What exactly are they going to create? 2040? A mall for TikTokers? Why am I supposed to care about Tiktokers?

So it will be a bunch of people staring at their phones,looking up occasionally to post a fight or their meal or somebody tripping over something as they walk around staring at their phone.

How many times can one really tictoc from a static location where 100s of others are doing the exact same thing?

By me is is popular to build little mini towns within itself,mimicking old time main streets,I can kinda see this if they built apartments/condos in the parking lot then the mall becomes a collection of stores and restaurants but in a more intimate setting.

But your income level needs to be $500k plus a year because it still all needs to be paid for.

Malls used to have live entertainment and music as a draw,the tiger king guy got his start doing mall live shows with tigers.

[SFDS]

He’s the same guy who bought the Union Street block. He was going to secure a grocery store. As those plans fell through he quietly started working with a real estate company. Haven’t heard of US development plans as of yet. I remember reading had development problems in Toledo.

[Danny]

Oakland Mall to become 'Tik Tok' anti-mall. This I got to see.

[EGrant]

While I am skeptical over some of the vague plans for the renovation, anything is better than the dump that mall is now.

Went there looking for a suitcase in a last-second emergency and the Macy's looked like it got ransacked. Clothes all over the ground, the place was dirty and everything just screamed "hasn't been replaced since the 90s". Even the escalator was broken, so I had to take an elevator.

[One Shot]

This and the guy is a joke-Poser. All talk and loving the attention. And can someone tell me where he [[31) and his buddies came up with that kind of money legally?

[313WX]

This and the guy is a joke-Poser. All talk and loving the attention. And can someone tell me where he [[31) and his buddies came up with that kind of money legally?

He could have rich and/or well-connected parents. When I see young people like this that are wealthy power brokers, that's often the case.

Somehow, he has even managed to establish a connection with Mark Cuban too [[there's a photo of them together on his Twitter page).

But even putting aside how he came into such money/power, I still get a skeevy "Used Car Salesman" aura from him.

[casscorridor]

The only people who think this is a good idea are boomers or the boomer-adjacent idiots who work for local papers with nothing better to write about.

It's really sad to hear people talk about getting "TikTok generation" on board with something. These people know nothing about TikTok. Have they even ever been on the app before?

Their best shot is to burn through all their cash to pay some low-level influencers to promote the mall's new paint job, which a total of zero actual Zoomers will care about, then go bankrupt! Good luck!

[Richard]

^ I am a boomer and I think it is a crap idea as it is presented,the general consensus of those who have replied,boomer or any with an inkling of common sense also feel it is not a good idea.

You are correct about most boomers do not have a clue about tic tac,because that’s what they are,little insignificant things in a little plastic box following the crowd.

The only thing I kinda find interesting about it are the bra less Tuesday clips reposted on YouTube,good for a few seconds of entertainment.

[softailrider]

While I am skeptical over some of the vague plans for the renovation, anything is better than the dump that mall is now.

Went there looking for a suitcase in a last-second emergency and the Macy's looked like it got ransacked. Clothes all over the ground, the place was dirty and everything just screamed "hasn't been replaced since the 90s". Even the escalator was broken, so I had to take an elevator.

The entire place is only 3 levels. Isn't there a stairway there?

[swingline]

Lots of negative reaction on DYes to the Oakland Mall sale. Skepticism is fine. Any repositioning of this property will be very difficult. Dozens of such malls across the country are undertaking efforts to solve the same problems being experienced by Oakland Mall. To put it mildly, solutions are elusive. No one has come up with any obvious answers. That said, why all the hate for Mr. Kiezi? Until he has a proven track record of equity-stripping and the creation of eyesores [anybody got this?], perhaps he might get a little more encouragement. The area will benefit if Oakland Mall avoids abandonment.

[Bdjack]

The entire place is only 3 levels. Isn't there a stairway there?

Not in Macy's

[Richard]

Lots of negative reaction on DYes to the Oakland Mall sale. Skepticism is fine. Any repositioning of this property will be very difficult. Dozens of such malls across the country are undertaking efforts to solve the same problems being experienced by Oakland Mall. To put it mildly, solutions are elusive. No one has come up with any obvious answers. That said, why all the hate for Mr. Kiezi? Until he has a proven track record of equity-stripping and the creation of eyesores [anybody got this?], perhaps he might get a little more encouragement. The area will benefit if Oakland Mall avoids abandonment.

Think of spending millions in order to convert a facility in order to cater to the MySpace crowd.

The thing with adaptive reuse is there are thousands of cities with millions of buildings that are ripe for adaptive reuse,add to that billions in funding just waiting to jump at any opportunity to make a return above bank rates.

No singular person has come up with an idea that blows it out of the park and is successful with the malls,if there was it would be repeated all across the country in a matter of seconds.

Maybe there is opportunity in what this fella is suggesting,but look at places like Packard and the Russel Center,they are somewhat mini versions of this,the millions that it would take realistically in this case,would serve a better return just buying some land and building a bunch of apartments.

Unless you are like musk or somebody like that,it is hard to sell risk to investors,that is what this is,a hope and prayer that it works out,having said that,it’s not my money so more power to him/her/them and I hope it works out because history shows these places always end up kissing a bulldozer.

[hybridy]

The only thing I kinda find interesting about it are the bra less Tuesday clips reposted on YouTube,good for a few seconds of entertainment.

Please keep your locker room talk in the locker room. This is not the place.

[Richard]

Please keep your locker room talk in the locker room. This is not the place.

Clearly you have never viewed tick-tock content,there is a reason it is highly scrutinized and looking to be banned in some countries,because a lot of it contains borderline child pornography.

Nice image to portray locally.

It’s a Chinese company owned platform that has also been banned by the US military because of the security risk it represents,little kids go on there,post,and are tracked down by pedos.

It was a platform developed in China exclusively for children,what could go wrong?

And you are triggered by my locker room words,what do you think is the common knowledge surrounding the whole thing? It’s not exactly something you would want to introduce to your mother or grandmother.

When did you become admin? Or just self righteous appointed,what you are referring to as my locker room talk is exactly what you are supporting,because it originated in that platform,maybe they will do live versions once this place is up and running as part of the live entertainment?

Sense it is a childrens platform,and this person said that is what they want to center the facility around,the tic toc crowd……

[EGrant]

Based on the comments here, the developer's biggest mistake was mentioning a divisive social media platform that people on an internet forum are going to be inclined to get upset about. [[By the way, an article came out today about how Facebook ran a smear campaign against TikTok and essentially paid members of the GOP to propagate some false claims. Local media fell for it too.)

Again, the lack of details around the mall concerns me, but I think the comment about TikTok did not mean that he was going to rebuild the entire mall based on the For You page... Then again, there's entire businesses dedicated to social media photo ops, so maybe he's on to something. Just fix the damn escalator at Macys.

Oh and intentionally spelling TikTok wrong doesn't make you edgy.

[southen]

Clearly you have never viewed tick-tock content,there is a reason it is highly scrutinized and looking to be banned in some countries,because a lot of it contains borderline child pornography.

Nice image to portray locally.

It’s a Chinese company owned platform that has also been banned by the US military because of the security risk it represents,little kids go on there,post,and are tracked down by pedos.

It was a platform developed in China exclusively for children,what could go wrong?

And you are triggered by my locker room words,what do you think is the common knowledge surrounding the whole thing? It’s not exactly something you would want to introduce to your mother or grandmother.

When did you become admin? Or just self righteous appointed,what you are referring to as my locker room talk is exactly what you are supporting,because it originated in that platform,maybe they will do live versions once this place is up and running as part of the live entertainment?

Sense it is a childrens platform,and this person said that is what they want to center the facility around,the tic toc crowd……

Wait, its a children’s platform that borderlines on pornography but you wait for the reposts on YouTube for Braless Tuesdays?

[Richard]

Wait, its a children’s platform that borderlines on pornography but you wait for the reposts on YouTube for Braless Tuesdays?

Nice try,YouTube has different standards, any content exploiting children gets deleted.

I posted it was originally designed for children as a Chinese platform,I never said adults or those of age do not use it also,but it is well known as a pedo magnet.

Tic Tok has also been the start of the challenges that are killing people

Slap your teacher challenge
Destroy school property and post it challenge
Steal from the store challenge

it goes on

The average wait time from when a teenager commits suicide live on tic toc before a call for help is placed - 4 hours - people are actually commenting while the teenager is committing suicide the platform is aware of the situation but nobody contacts anybody until after they are dead.


TEENS with a deadly addiction to social media are killing themselves after being dragged into the dark side of TikTok, The Sun Online can reveal.In total, there have been 41 deaths linked to the controversial app - nine of which are understood to have been suicides.

KILLED ON FILM
TikTok linked to dozens of DEATHS worldwide as teens post suicide videos and film killer stunts

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/109299...videos-stunts/