Lafayette Town Cental Mall

[stasu1213]

Does anyone has any vintage pictures of the strip mall that sits at Lafayette and Orleans. I had that there were some nice stores and a bank years ago. I remembered Lafayette Market but that is it. I had heard that Hagen Daz, Richard's Pharmacy, and other stores were in the little strip mall.

[stromberg2]

Sala Thai is there, I believe.

Stromberg2

[DetroitPlanner]

I can recall a fair-sized Farmer Jacks in that mall too. Offices of various kinds. Or am I thinking of another mall close-by? Sala Thai is in with the Lafayette Market.

[Neilr]

The shopping center was built somewhat in the style of the Meis van der Rohe townhouses; but was not designed by him. Same for the Chrysler Elementary School.

The grocery store was an A&P for many years before becoming the Lafayette Market. The A&P, Richard's Drugs and the Lafayette/Orleans Bar shared the strip that faced Lafayette. The strip perpendicular to Lafayette housed at various times a deli, cleaners, doctors' offices. More recently, Box Seat Video, Paris Cafe, Sala Thai and other carry out places, insurance office, day labor office and several vacant storefronts.

Several years ago, the center's owners planned to tear the whole thing down; but then changed their minds and remodeled the two strips, tearing down just the two-story free-standing building. In the 70's, that building housed a bank, a really high-end market [[IMO like Zacarro's should have been), and offices on the second floor. In the 80's, Box Seat Video took over the market's space.

The center was planted with honey locust tree, similar to the townhouse neighborhood.

There was much community opposition to the tearing down of the center; but not much love for the two-story building. IMO it was just ugly.

For a number of years in the 70's the neighborhood hosted the Lafayette Park Art Fair in the center.

DetroitPlanner, the Farmer Jacks was in the shopping center a bit to the east on the corner of Chene and Lafayette. When it opened, it was a state of the art grocery store. It's now an independent market, Food Land, or such. It's actually not a bad store.

[stasu1213]

Does anyone has a vintage photo of the mall with the two story free standing building on it?

[EastsideAl]

I remember the center very well. Even though we didn't live in Lafayette Park my family always shopped in that A&P, which in the '60s was the nicest supermarket in this whole part of the east side. The parking lot would be full on most weekend days. Richard's was a really good drugstore too, run by very nice people, and was there for quite a while after the supermarket closed. I used to go to a dentist in the office building, which also had an NBD branch.

And I vividly remember buying some Guinness [[which was rare to find on the east side in those days) when I was 17 from the gourmet grocery a few days before Christmas and standing out in the snow in front of the cleaners with a friend who lived in the neighborhood drinking it, opening doors for people, and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, which is certainly what we were having.

[DetroitPlanner]

DetroitPlanner, the Farmer Jacks was in the shopping center a bit to the east on the corner of Chene and Lafayette. When it opened, it was a state of the art grocery store. It's now an independent market, Food Land, or such. It's actually not a bad store.

Thanks, being a west sider, I don't make it to the east side grocery stores too often. As a college student however, I was a food rep and worked inner city markets exclusively.

[stasu1213]

Was the two story building made of mostly glass like the surrounding shops in the strip mall at that time?

[Neilr]

Stasu1213, this picture is not all that clear [[my fault); but it's the best I can provide right now. I hope it helps. The view would be of the northwest corner of the building. The black steel beams you see on the left of the picture support the roof of the walkway in front of the Lafayette/Orleans bar. Richard's Drugs was next to the bar, and then was the A&P.

As you can see in the picture, the 2-story building was encircled by a slightly raised covered terrace. The 1st floor had floor to ceiling windows. Those on the 2nd floor wrapped around the building; but, as you can see, much smaller. The building material for the columns and facing was, IIRC, some type of cheap-looking composite material.

The picture is from a really fine brochure about Lafayette park done by Detroit's Historic Designation Advisory Board.

[Jason]

I don't think the demolished building was particularly good, but it really looks like it changed the nature of that spot. With the building there's a pedestrian plaza lined with stores, and without it it's a generic strip mall [[with nicer architecture, but still a strip mall).

Thanks for sharing though, I didn't know that building ever existed. I think Lafayette Park is an interesting and special place in Detroit.

[stasu1213]

Stasu1213, this picture is not all that clear [[my fault); but it's the best I can provide right now. I hope it helps. The view would be of the northwest corner of the building. The black steel beams you see on the left of the picture support the roof of the walkway in front of the Lafayette/Orleans bar. Richard's Drugs was next to the bar, and then was the A&P.
...

The picture is from a really fine brochure about Lafayette park done by Detroit's Historic Designation Advisory Board.

brings back memories. A lot could had been done to this building.It takes vision. I had heard that there were houses that once sat in Lafayette Central Park next to 1300 but was razed some time ago

[Huggybear]

I don't think the demolished building was particularly good, but it really looks like it changed the nature of that spot. With the building there's a pedestrian plaza lined with stores, and without it it's a generic strip mall [[with nicer architecture, but still a strip mall)

With all due respect, this is the kind of thing I think you see from the other side of a computer screen - not from being there. It was always a strip mall [[it was, after all, designed in the 50s), and the building in question was just an outlot.

That 2-story building, at its end stage, was a bit nasty [[macadam cement panel does not age well). But the bigger issue was that the building created two narrow and very poorly lit "alleys," one the ran north and south along the strip as it exists today and another that ran east and west along the strip. Right behind that 2-story building, where Club Omni is now, was an abandoned retail building [[looked like size of a supermarket). Most people would try not to be caught in a place like that after dark, and I'm sure that [[along with the fact that there was too much space in the mall) played into the decision to eliminate the building.

I know there's a rabid enthusiasm for multistory buildings, but this one, placed where it was placed, was an eyesore and a safety hazard.

[royce]

I agree with Huggybear. The building created a safety issue because it blocked one's view from Lafayette and vice versa. It also prevented potential stores in that location from being noticed by drivers driving along Lafayette. If you didn't already know what was there, you'd miss it driving by. It was a good decision to tear the building down.

[kraig]

The redevelopment plan turned out to be a gross miscalculation by the owner of the strip. A lot of viable businesses were shut down or moved to other locations. By the time some of those businesses had made their way back to the strip, the customer base was no longer there.

Right now, that location is dead. Hopefully, things will pick up in the future.

[stasu1213]

If the new owner keep raising the rent for each tenants he is not going to attract anyone in that mall