  Designerguy24 Member Username: Designerguy24 Post Number: 140 Registered: 10-2006 |
after a year of waiting its finally happening today. They will be putting in a new lifestyle type of mall along the lines of Partridge Creek in Clinton Township http://www.clickondetroit.com/ news/16683558/detail.html | ||
Detroitking Member Username: Detroitking Post Number: 29 Registered: 06-2008 |
pics? | ||
Larryinflorida Member Username: Larryinflorida Post Number: 1710 Registered: 02-2007 |
I was dragged there by my mom more times than I care to remember in the 60's and 70's. It's chock-full of memories, but unlike more memorable structures, I'm sure there are many who are happy to see it go. | ||
Rob_in_warren Member Username: Rob_in_warren Post Number: 110 Registered: 11-2007 |
Good news. They must be replacing the Target at 11 Mile and Dequindre. I hope they are rebuilding the cheap show movie theater. I also hope the "mall" isn't much more than a handful of stores. Oakland Mall and the planned one on the State Fair Grounds are already enough to service everyone in the area. | ||
Malcovemagnesia Member Username: Malcovemagnesia Post Number: 87 Registered: 12-2005 |
The ClickOnDetroit article seems to indicate that only the Mervyns & the Montgomery Ward sections of the mall are being torn down, or would it be the whole thing? | ||
Townonenorth Member Username: Townonenorth Post Number: 51 Registered: 10-2007 |
Seems like only a portion of the mall is fenced in now. That is the section between (I think) The Burlington store and the former Value city Dept. store. I think the theatre is staying. | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 752 Registered: 03-2006 |
Is Spencer's Gifts & Gags still there? | ||
Designerguy24 Member Username: Designerguy24 Post Number: 141 Registered: 10-2006 |
they are doing a little bit at a time they are keeping the Movie Theater and AJ Wright. The Target at 11 Mile and Dequinder is relocating to the new one at Universal Mall | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 1974 Registered: 04-2005 |
That has been a wasteland for several years now. I hate to drive by it. | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 756 Registered: 03-2006 |
I hope they keep the pretzel stand. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2567 Registered: 07-2004 |
Soon to be redeveloped into a lifestyle mall, vacant by 2013, razed in 2014, redeveloped into a Blimpie's and a roadside custard stand in 2015. | ||
Goose Member Username: Goose Post Number: 71 Registered: 02-2005 |
is a "lifestyle" mall a swingers mall??? | ||
7andkelly Member Username: 7andkelly Post Number: 795 Registered: 04-2008 |
I'll miss the guy who ran the coney place that cussed every other word, the s l o w, crappy service at the other food stands, the filthy rest rooms, the cold stares from the cleaning staff, and the guy that walked off with my wheel covers. The good anchor stores and anything decent in that whole place has been long, long, gone. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2568 Registered: 07-2004 |
No, it's like a mall without the air-conditioning, ceiling and movies, made to look like a 19th century village mall. Like all "lifestyle" trends, expect it to be swept into the trash bin with the next fad that attracts cash from the real estate investment trust crowd. | ||
7andkelly Member Username: 7andkelly Post Number: 796 Registered: 04-2008 |
Nerd is right! The lifestyle mall concept is a nonstarter in a region where 8 months are cold. Certainly, the Dequindre Corridor cannot support this. Walmart would have been a better anchor. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4539 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: I guess that's why you never see people shopping on the streets in Boston, New York, or Chicago. "Lifestyle centers" used to be known as "neighborhoods". Unfortunately, most modern zoning regs prohibit locating retail convenient to where its customers live, never mind mixed-use. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1391 Registered: 12-2006 |
I dunno, how are the crowds at Partridge Creek? Just before it opened, the college-kid crowd was all abuzz about it, and I went there once right after it opened to check it out, but haven't been back. (Nothing wrong with the place, but the Prof isn't really a shopper.) Now, the neighborhood around Universal is not as upscale as what Macomb County fantasizes that the neighborhood around Partridge Creek is, so I wonder: do outdoor style malls compete well in blue collar neighborhoods? Was it a mistake to enclose Northland forty or forty-five years back? One wonders. What Dan refers to as "modern zoning" is the 1950s era zoning that most Michigan communities still practice. Truly modern zoning, as practiced by a great many communities today (but not in Michigan), encourages mixed-use development, pedestrian traffic, use of transit, limited parking and so on. But we still zone for cars rather than for people. | ||
7andkelly Member Username: 7andkelly Post Number: 801 Registered: 04-2008 |
Okay...the lifestyle mall concept is a nonstarter in a car centric, blue collar, mostly suburban region, like Warren (or Clinton Twp) where 8 months are cold. If the Partridge Creek people were smart, they built it with a plan-B to close it in. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 300 Registered: 11-2006 |
My sister works at Partridge Creek and she says buisness is very slow. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2562 Registered: 09-2007 |
^^Hmm, looks like Gateway Plaza is on very thin ice.  | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 57 Registered: 11-2007 |
I will miss Universal. Over the past 20 years or so it evolved into a must-see destination each time I visited metro Detroit. I watched it decline with a bizarre blend of melancholy and morbid fascination as I perceived it as both a metaphor and tangible monument to our disposable commercial culture. Lakeside, Fairlane, Macomb, and Oakland are not as far behind Universal as some people might think. Declining malls always start initially with vacancies around the outer perimeter entrances, then move like a cancer toward the higher traffic areas around the anchors. I noticed this is already well under way at all of them. | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 1131 Registered: 11-2003 |
"Okay...the lifestyle mall concept is a nonstarter in a car centric, blue collar, mostly suburban region, like Warren (or Clinton Twp) where 8 months are cold." Why is that? From my understanding Universal will become a group of stand alone big box type stores. People will park in front of the store and go in and shop. Calling it a lifestyle center doesn't mean people will have some urge to have a family picnic on a landscaped piece of land before they spend their money. Parking your car in front of a large store and going inside is nothing new. People have been doing it at places like Kmart, Walmart, Best Buy and other similar stores for a long time. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2572 Registered: 07-2004 |
It really doesn't matter what sort of "retail environment" they put in. Regional malls, lifestyle centers, power centers. All of those sorts of developments have problems with vacancies and flagging sales right now. Take a look at the big-box stores off Ford Road and Mercury Drive, for instance. | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 1132 Registered: 11-2003 |
The majority of commitments that Universal has are from stores that are already there or in the case of Target just a mile down the road. It's not like they're trying to do business in a untested area. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2573 Registered: 07-2004 |
I don't doubt the development is lined up well, at least by the standards of an REIT. I just don't believe they're going to have a success because they knock down an "outdated" mall and put up a new "center" instead. It doesn't sound like it's going to be too grand, anyway: $12 million doesn't buy what it used to. | ||
Xd_brklyn Member Username: Xd_brklyn Post Number: 419 Registered: 10-2003 |
When did they tear down the large mosaic of "the universe" at the mall? Also don't remember it being called "Universal City". Don't recall anyone ever using that name. | ||
Gene Member Username: Gene Post Number: 107 Registered: 10-2006 |
I believe the mall was originally called Universal City, at least that's what my parents called it. The mosaic was taken out with an addition to the main entrance in the early 70s. The bird cage, fountains,planters and stage were removed about that same time,along with Woolworth's lunch counter that was in the mall. | ||
7andkelly Member Username: 7andkelly Post Number: 803 Registered: 04-2008 |
Partridge Creek will fail before Lakeside because it is unenclosed which discourages window shopping and inter-store browsing in cold weather. Lakeside is well anchored with Macy's, JC Penney and Sears...no guarantees in todays economy. The new mall at 12 & Dequindre will get a great start with Target, but perceptions about security and crime in the area will be a detriment, IMO. | ||
Ljbad89 Member Username: Ljbad89 Post Number: 18 Registered: 10-2007 |
I went to Universal Mall a few days before it closed. I got a lot of good pictures. It's a shame it closed but that's progress I guess. Livonia Mall closed recently too. I remember going to Livonia Mall in the early 90s when I was younger and it was hopping. Last August when I went, everything was shuttered and dark except for Sears, Value City, some independents, Foot Locker, a pet store and a few clothing shops. | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 58 Registered: 11-2007 |
Some recent photos (from late May) on this blog, including the door sign announcing the planned demolition: http://www.labelscar.com/michi gan/universal-mall |
