From Shopping Mecca to Ghost Town: The Complicated Revival of Lakeside Mall
Plans for Lakeside Mall redevelopment in Sterling Heights are already a year behind schedule, leaving many to wonder what the hold-up is on moving forward. It’s not cheap by any means, at 1 billion dollars. Like any relationship on Facebook, it is listed as complicated with developers. Officials said that the owners of two of the mall’s remaining department stores, Lord & Taylor and Sears, are allegedly holdouts for more money in the buyout process.
Entrance to Lakeside Mall
Where The Project Is Now
“We’re about one year behind schedule in terms of what Lakeside was hoping we’d be,” said Luke Bonner, the city’s senior economic adviser, told the Sterling Heights City Council. Sterling Heights officials have said that JC Penney and Macy’s owners have reached agreements to sell, but the owners of the former Lord & Taylor and Sears spaces have not. Officials said the holdouts are blocking the project from moving forward.
The mall owners plan to demolish much of Lakeside Mall and create a Town Center consisting of new offices, apartments, retail space, a 120-room hotel with an attached parking deck, restaurants, recreational amenities, and more along M-59, which is known locally at the Golden Corridor.
In 2022, the council approved a memorandum of understanding with Out of the Box Ventures, the mall’s private owners, to recreate the 110-acre site near Hall and Schoenherr roads into a collection of dining, retail, residences, parks, office space, and a hotel.
Turning Back The Hands Of Time
The Year was 1976 when America was celebrating its bicentennial. News around the neighborhood was that the most excellent mall ever had been finished. Back then, my pals in the area went to the Macomb Mall or Oakland Mall, and they did so for years! Holidays like Easter and Christmas brought many memories to those malls. Then, a new concept of an even greater mall with all your favorite stores in one place was built.
Lakeside Mall was in Sterling Heights, Michigan, off M-59 and Schoenherr Road. It had two levels and a movie theater. An ice rink that later became a hydro-tube water slide was also there. There was a food court, a glass elevator, and plenty more. Plus, it also had that new mall smell!
The Fountain and Glass Elevator
Ad for HYDROTUBE that was 2 stories high
When I first went to the mall with friends, we took a bus that left the Macomb Mall from out front. You better not dare ever miss the last bus, as it would mean you’d be making a call to Mom and Dad that wouldn’t go over well. It was the cool thing to do – go to the mall – a local hangout where you meet all your friends from school and make even more friends from other schools from all over. I loved the record stores – they had three or four back then, some of which included Harmony House, Music Stop, and more.
One of my fond memories at Lakeside Mall included the midnight movies where I was introduced to the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Right now, the mall is pretty much a ghost town and sad after so many years… Maybe shopping online was the death of the mall. However, I can’t wait to see what they will do next!
