Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights to permanently close July 1

It's the final countdown for long-struggling Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights.

Lakeside's owner plans to announce Wednesday that it will permanently close the shopping mall on July 1.

Plans then call for demolishing the 1.5 million-square-foot enclosed mall that was built in the 1970s. And by late 2025, a groundbreaking is expected for a $1 billion-plus redevelopment plan for the 110-acre site: Lakeside Town Center, a town-square-type project with apartments, new retail, restaurants, offices, a hotel and public recreation space.

The existing Macy's and J.C. Penney department stores at the mall are to stay open and help anchor the future development. The former Sears and Lord & Taylor stores also will remain standing — at least for now.

“While the current mall itself is in a state of decline and there’s more and more vacancies, the area around Lakeside Mall is thriving," Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool told the Free Press on Tuesday. “That area right there at M-59 and Schoenherr is one of the most vibrant areas in the region, and everyone is greatly anticipating this project coming forward.”

The Taubman-built Lakeside Mall opened in 1976 and was once known for its luxury retailers. It was expanded in 1990 and last renovated in 2007. But Lakeside experienced an exodus of tenants in recent years amid the rise of online shopping and the 2007 opening of The Mall at Partridge Creek, a nearby open-air center in Clinton Township.

Out of the Box Ventures, a subsidiary of Miami-based investment firm Lionheart Capital, bought the mall for $26.5 million in late 2019. Lionheart Capital will be developing the new Lakeside Town Center; the project was first announced in 2022.

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Today, occupancy inside Lakeside Mall is down to about 20%, said Lionheart Capital's Chief Development Officer Allison Greenfield.

“The writing is obviously on the wall," Greenfield said. "If you go almost any day of the week, it’s pretty vacant.”

Lionheart intends to apply within the next year for a special development incentive, known as a Transformational Brownfield, to help finance the ambitious redevelopment.

A Transformational Brownfield is a capture of local and state-level taxes over 30 years that are generated by a new development. Examples of such projects include the 45-floor skyscraper and neighboring 12-story office block under construction at the Hudson's site in downtown Detroit.

As part of the redevelopment, Lionheart would donate about 30 acres of the site for public spaces, including parks with outdoor seating and various infrastructure needed for the project. Plans also call for a new two-story community center and a biking/walking trail that would connect with other area trails.

The Macomb Daily reported that Sterling Heights' city council last month voted to accept a $3 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to help with acquiring properties around the derelict mall in support of the redevelopment.

The properties in mind include the former Sears and Lord & Taylor department stores. Sterling Heights officials have described the owners of those shuttered stores as "holdouts" who have yet to agree to sell.

Public infrastructure for the new project, such as roads, sidewalks and sewer lines, would be financed through a $45 million city bond issue. The money would be paid back with future tax revenue generated at the site.

Lakeside Town Center would be built in phases and, as currently proposed, eventually include:

• 2,219 units of housing (including 750 units of independent living and assisted living).
• Nearly 180,000 square feet of retail and food and beverage spaces.
• 120-room hotel.
• 70,000 square-feet of office space.

Lakeside Mall will join a growing list of once-busy metro Detroit shopping malls that slowly died and then closed and met the wrecking ball. A few of those old malls:

• Summit Place Mall in Pontiac
• Northland Center in Southfield
• Eastland Center in Harper Woods

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights to permanently close July 1