Wikipedia

Northland Center

Northland Centerwas an enclosedshopping mallon an approximately 159-acre (64 ha) site located near the intersection ofM-10(the John C. Lodge Freeway) and Greenfield Road inSouthfield, Michigan,aninner-ringsuburbofDetroit,Michigan,United States.Construction began in 1952 and the mall opened on March 22, 1954. Northland was a milestone for regional shopping centers in the United States. Designed byVictor Gruen,the mall initially included a four-levelHudson'swith a ring of stores surrounding it. As originally built, it was an open airpedestrian mallwith arrayed structures. The mall was enclosed in 1975 and expanded several times in its history. Additions included five other department store anchors:J. C. Penneyin 1975,MainStreetin 1985 (sold toKohl'sthree years later), andTJ Maxx,Target,andMontgomery Wardin the 1990s. Managed bySpinoso Real Estate Group,Northland Center featured approximately 100 stores.Macy's,the last anchor, closed on March 22, 2015, exactly 61 years to the date of the mall's opening.[1]The mall was partially demolished in September 2021, and is currently being redeveloped as Northland City Center.[2][3]

Northland Center
Northland Center logo
Northland Center in March 2015
Map
LocationSouthfield, Michigan,United States
Coordinates42°27′4.2″N83°12′16.8″W/ 42.451167°N 83.204667°W/42.451167; -83.204667
Opening dateMarch 22, 1954
Closing dateApril 15, 2015
DeveloperJ.L. Hudson Company
ManagementSpinoso Real Estate Group(custody of mall during receivership)
OwnerContour Companies
ArchitectVictor Gruen
No. of stores and services100
No. ofanchor tenants6 (0 open, 6 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,449,719 sq ft (134,683.3 m2)
No. of floors1 (2 in former JCPenney and former Ward's, 5 in former Macy's)
Parking8,671

History

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Early years

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The mall in March 2015.

TheJ. L. Hudson Company,a Detroit-baseddepartment storechain, built Northland Center. Hudson's—at its Downtown Detroit location onWoodward Avenue—grew to become the second largest department store (next toMacy'sofNew York City) in the United States. In 1948, architectVictor Gruenconvinced Hudson's, then reluctant to build branch stores, to take advantage of suburban growth by constructing a ring of four shopping centers surrounding the city of Detroit. Of the four –Eastland Center,Southland Center,andWestland Centerwere the others – Northland was the first to be built. These malls encircle Detroit's inner-ring of suburbs. At the time, Northland Center was the world's largest shopping center.[4]

Northland Center became the first major postwar development in suburban Detroit and was the first of many forays into the suburbs by Hudson's. Some $30,000,000 was invested in constructing the facility. The first-year gross for the Northland Hudson's was $88 million.[5]

The shopping center opened to much fanfare. Articles about the center appeared in national media outlets such asThe Wall Street Journal,Time,Look,Life,Ladies Home JournalandNewsweek.Reviewers had heralded the Northland as the future of shopping in post-war America. Besides Hudson's, Northland opened with a number of other local retailers including: Hughes & Hatcher, Max Green's, Kosins, The Wild Pair, Barna-Bee Children's Shops,Cunningham Drug,Baker's Shoes, Chandler's Shoes,Big Boyrestaurant, Himelhoch's, Winkelman's, Albert's,S.S. Kresge Corporation,Robinson Furniture, Raimi's Curtains, Better Made Potato Chips,Kroger,Barricini Candies, andSanders Confectionery.Northland featured auditoriums, The Northland Playhouse, The Northland Theater, a bank, post office, infirmary, sculptures byMarshall Fredericks,fountains, an office for lost children, lavish landscaping, and free gasoline for customers who had run out.

Gruen would later grow disenchanted with the malls he helped start with Northland. The architect, who also designed suburban Detroit's three other "directional" malls (Eastland Center,Westland Center,andSouthland Center), Chicago'sRandhurst,and South Jersey'sCherry Hill Mall,pronounced himself disillusioned with the ugliness and fast-buck approach of many projects. "I refuse to pay alimony for those bastard developments", he toldTimemagazine.[6]

Northland Mall Tunnels

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The shopping center also featured various underground service tunnels used for various purposes.[7]Mainly, truck deliveries, storage, workshop space, and at one point, a nuclear bomb shelter. The network is several miles long and has 484 rooms. When the building is demolished, the tunnels will likely be razed as well. There were also additional tunnels, although much narrower, that ran between the mall and an old power station, police substation and Firestone building.

Expansion

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Northland Center was enclosed as a mall in 1975,[8]the same year thatJ. C. Penneywas added.Federated Department Stores' short-livedMainStreetchain opened in 1985 and was later acquired by and rechristenedKohl'sin March 1989.T.J. Maxxand afood courtwere added in 1991, whileMontgomery Wardopened in November 1994.[8]Targetopened in April 1996. A Jeepers! location opened in 1999, but later closed in 2012.

Loss of anchors and closure

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A mall hallway in 2015.

Construction of other malls in the metro area presented remodeling challenges and redevelopment opportunities for the metro area's inner-ring suburban malls including Northland. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Northland had a turnover of major tenants. Kohl's closed its operations in 1995 at the mall, along with a sister store atEastland Center.[9]Targetbuilt its store on the building's west end and opened in 1996. Montgomery Ward shuttered due to the chain's financial troubles in 1998; JCPenney and T.J. Maxx closed in 2000 and 2004, respectively.National Wholesale Liquidatorsopened in 2005 in Wards' former building, and closed three years later. In 2007,Targetcompleted a renovation of its interior and exterior, as well as an expansion to accommodate apharmacy,Starbucks,andPizza Hut,but in November 2014, Target announced the closing of its store. The store closed in February 2015 as part of closing 11 stores nationwide.[10]Macy's also announced that it was closing operations at Northland Center as well,[11]with the store closing on March 22, 2015, 61 years to the day the store opened asHudson'sin 1954.[12]

With just a handful of inline stores left, Northland Center officially closed on April 15, 2015.

Financial trouble and resulting closure

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Northland Center was sold on December 18, 2008, toNew York City-based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, withJones Lang LaSalle(which also ownsEastland CenterinHarper Woods).[13]Ashkenazy Acquisition defaulted on a $31 million payment in the summer of 2014, and Spinoso Real Estate Group was namedreceiver.[1]

In February 2015, following the closure of the anchor stores, a local judge announced that the mall would be closing as of March 2015.[14]Around this time, the mall's official website closed.

On October 7, 2015, the city of Southfield purchased the property for $2.5 million with plans to demolish most of the property.[15][16]The only remnants of the original property that would be spared are the maintenance garage, the network of tunnels underneath the mall, the water tower and the building that formerly housed Hudson's/Marshall Field's/Macy's.

Redevelopment opportunities and Northland City Center

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On October 26, 2017, two-and-a-half years after the mall's shuttering, demolition began on Northland Center, with the former Target store being the first section to be levelled, followed by the former Firestone tire center.[17]The city of Southfield submitted a proposal toAmazonfor its search to establish a second headquarters, pitching the former 125-acre Northland Center site; ultimately, the formerMichigan State Fairgroundssite in Detroit was chosen.[18]In July 2021, the city of Southfield sold Northland Center to Contour Companies for $11 million.[19]

Notes left from former Northland Center employees.

In September 2021, demolition started to pave the way for a new $403 million redevelopment project that includes large-scale housing and some retail.[2]The 115-acre 1954 original J.L. Hudson (at the time of closure was a Macy's) building will be saved. The first phase of the redevelopment will feature "1,546 new for-rent housing units, the majority of them in 14 planned five- and six-story buildings."[2]The "remaining 254 residences would be loft-style apartments built into Northland's original shell surrounding the former Hudson's." The original building, Hudson's, will then become a "530,406-square-foot food and goods emporium called Hudson City Market, featuring food and entertainment options, home furnishing stores, local" mom and pop "businesses as well as office space."[2]

Demographic and consumer changes

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A common complaint and belief was that Northland's decline and demise was in part to the change in consumer base and changing demographics in Metro Detroit.[20][21]During Northland's early years, there was a larger consumer base and less competition from rival malls. Competition from newer malls likeSomerset Collection,Fairlane Town Center,Oakland Mall,Twelve Oaks Mallcontributed to the migration from Northland. Northland failed to compete and change with the changing needs and expectations of consumers and was slowly replaced by more upscale shopping alternatives. In its later years, there were a few violent crimes and shoplifting was rampant, which further contributed to its decline.

See also

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References

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  1. ^abDetroit Free Press,"Macy's, last anchor at Northland, to close", JC Reindl and Georgea Kovanis, January 9, 2015, page A1
  2. ^abcdReindl, J. C."Demolition underway, groundbreaking set for Northland site".Detroit Free Press.Retrieved2023-02-20.
  3. ^"Demolition started on Southfield's former Northland Center".WDIV.2021-09-11.Retrieved2023-02-20.
  4. ^Hardwick, Jeffrey M. "Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream."University of Pennsylvania Press,2004.
  5. ^"RETAIL TRADE,OIL: Pleasure-Domes with Parking".Time.15 October 1956.
  6. ^"Environment: A Pall Over the Suburban Mall".13 November 1978. Archived fromthe originalon November 7, 2012 – via www.time.com.
  7. ^Reindl, J. C."Northland mall tunnels reveal their secrets".Detroit Free Press.Retrieved2023-02-20.
  8. ^abhttp://www.secinfo.com/dRe2b.b1r.htm#rwbSEC Info – Midwest Real Estate Shopping Center LP – Def 14A – For 6/28/94
  9. ^Deck, Cecelia (March 14, 1995)."Northland and Eastland Kohl's stores to close".Detroit Free Press.pp. 1E, 6E.Retrieved12 April2018.
  10. ^"Target Announces Upcoming Store Closures".
  11. ^"RSS Feeds - Macy's, Inc".
  12. ^"Macys plans to close Northland Center says Southfield's Acting Mayor".Crains Detroit Business.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-01-12.
  13. ^Miller, Jennie."Sale of Northland Center finalized".C & G News.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-07-08.Retrieved2009-01-13.
  14. ^FOX (23 November 2021)."Judge: Northland Mall to close after more than 60 years".
  15. ^Martindale, Mike (October 7, 2015)."Southfield to buy shuttered Northland mall, clear land".The Detroit News.RetrievedJanuary 19,2017.
  16. ^"Northland Center mall to be torn down by Southfield".
  17. ^"Southfield hopes Target demolition can lead to revival".
  18. ^"Southfield pitches Northland Mall for Amazon's 'HQ2'".
  19. ^Reindl, J. C."Northland mall sale closes; redeveloper plans to build housing, commercial space".Detroit Free Press.Retrieved2023-02-20.
  20. ^"Requiem for Northland Center - Belt Magazine - Dispatches From The Rust Belt".27 January 2015.
  21. ^"The inclusive suburb: Southfield's long history of intentional integration".
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