Saga of an Empty Shopping Center

[Kroger472]

I thought it might be interesting if I followed the progress of redevelopment for a recently abandoned shopping center.

I have been posting about the Ann Arbor, MI Kroger Superstore that closed on 9/12 and now that the 90,000 Sq. Ft. Georgetown Mall is officially empty with that closure the questions have turned to what they might do with the property.

A small background on the mall:
The mall opened in March of 1973 and originally housed an Cunningham's drugstore as well as the aforementioned Kroger and maybe a dozen or so small shops and a three story office building.

In 2001 the mall was sold to a developer who had the idea to build a 40,000 later changed to 45,000 Sq. Ft. Kroger with condo's on top and underground parking. This developer going by the name Harbor-Georgetown slowly forced the tenants out by not renewing their leases, after 2006 the mall began to die and in June 2008 the property entered foreclosure.

The last tenants other than Kroger moved out in August 2008. The mall began to deteriorate and the landlord refused to fix the leaky roof or some of the moderate vandalism that began to happen on the site. Some of the shops had their windows smashed out and then they were boarded up.

The first article in this saga is from yesterday (9/22/09) and talks about the city's plans to secure the site either with a fence or boarding up the buildings or both:

http://www.annarbor.com/business-review ... town-mall/

As this develops I'll continue to update this thread. Most likely this property will be redeveloped into a new shopping center, time will tell how this saga ends.

[Kroger472]

First update:
http://www.annarbor.com/business-review ... mall-site/

The neighbors are demanding demolition but the city says the process takes time.

Interestingly the article says that Kroger abandoned two trailers at the site, however it doesn't seem like they would leave trailers around. I suspect they aren't done clearing out the store.

[Kroger472]

Site goes to the county if the owner doesn't pony up north of $800,000 dollars.

http://www.annarbor.com/business-review ... reclosure/

[Andrew T.]

Could this possibly be on the road towards the next Dixie Square?

[Kroger472]

Give it 5 years and it'll be there... If they don't do something about it soon it'll be like the hotel in the city that sat vacant and had a mattress fire and algae growing in the swimming pool. This thing closed in 1984 and is just now being torn down. I WOULD hold my breath on this center.

[Kroger472]

More developments:

http://www.annarbor.com/business-review ... questions/

http://www.annarbor.com/business-review ... 9-payment/

If the guy brings more plans before the city, this will be the third time in three years, always involving a Kroger with underground parking and apartments above it at around 45,000 Sq. Ft.