Eastland Center (Harper Woods, Michigan)

Infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Eastland Center


image_width =
caption =
location = Harper Woods, Michigan, United States
coordinates =
opening_date = 1957
closing_date =
developer = J.L. Hudson Corparation
manager = Jones Lang LaSalle
owner = Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.
number_of_stores = 88 [http://www.shopeastland.com/mimages/factsheets.pdf Fact sheet for Eastland Center] ]
number_of_anchors = 4
floor_area = convert|1415557|sqft|m2|abbr=on.
floors = Mall - 1 plus partial basement
Sears, Steve & Barry's - 2
Macy's - 4
parking = 7613 spaces
website = http://www.shopeastland.com/

Eastland Center is an enclosed shopping mall located in the city of Harper Woods, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Opened in 1957, the mall has been expanded several times since. It currently features over 88 stores, as well as a small food court, with Macy's, Sears, Steve & Barry's and Target serving as anchor stores. Eastland Center is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle, and owned by Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. who acquired it in 2005. [ [http://www.us.am.joneslanglasalle.com/en-US/news/2005/Q2/Jones+Lang+LaSalle+Awarded+Six+New+Retail+Assignments+Totaling+More+Than+Four+Million+Square+Feet.htm Jones Lang LaSalle Awarded Six New Retail Assignments Totaling More Than Four Million Square Feet] ]

History

The mall was developed in 1957 by J.L. Hudson Corporation, a Detroit-based department store chain that also developed Northland Center, another Detroit mall. [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2940407/Eastland-Center-history-News-Brief.html#abstract Eastland Center history (brief article)] ] Like Northland, Eastland was developed by Victor Gruen as an open-air mall, with Hudson's as its main anchor store.Fact|date=August 2007

In 1975, Eastland Center was enclosed, with JCPenney and Montgomery Ward opening as additional anchor stores.Fact|date=August 2007 A food court and movie theater were added to the eastern wing in 1985. [ [http://waterwinterwonderland.com/location.asp?id=941&type=5 Eastland Mall 5 - WaterWinterWonderland.com] ] MainStreet, a department store chain based in Chicago, Illinois, opened at the mall in the 1980s.Fact|date=August 2007 The MainStreet chain was bought out and re-named by Kohl's in 1989. Kohl's closed at Eastland Center in 1995, and was replaced with Target a year later. [ [http://www.thepartnership.com/dapws/compass/properties/eastland-center.htm Compass Retail, Inc. Managed Properties] ] Montgomery Ward closed in 1998 due to the chain's financial troubles, with JCPenney closing two years later. The Hudson's chain was re-branded Marshall Field's by its parent company Target Corporation in 2001. Marshall Field's, in turn, was acquired and re-named Macy's in 2006.

2000s

After the loss of Montgomery Ward in 1998, the center began to falter. By 1998, the mall was down to 78% occupancy, and the mall's consumer base had shifted to minorities. [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20951068.html Eastland struggles to fill empty stores, combat rival malls. (Eastland Center) (brief article)] ] [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FOS/is_2004_June_30/ai_n6267846 Lehman team marketing four Class-B malls] ] Eastland Center was acquired by the Shopco Advisory Group in 1999, with plans for renovation; [ [http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/current/sct9903/23.php Shopping Centers Today] ] under Shopco's tenure, new stores were added. [ [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2940395/Fixing-Eastland-Owner-looks-to.html Fixing Eastland; Owner looks to home stores to shore up mall.] ] In September 2003, Sears opened in the former JCPenney space. The same year, the mall's twin theater was demolished, with a Lowe's home improvement store (detached from the mall itself) being built on the site of the former twin theater in the northeastern corner of the property. A new, much smaller food court was created from retail space in the Sears wing. [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/premium/0286/0286-8873291.html Aging Detroit Mall Gains New Lease on Life with New Retailers. (Brief article)] ]

Steve & Barry's, a discount clothing retailer, opened on the first floor of the former Montgomery Ward store in 2004, shortly after the space had been temporarily leased to a furniture store called Cana Mex Interiors. At the time, the Eastland Center store was the second-largest Steve & Barry's in the chain. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5091/is_200411/ai_n18516607 Eastland Center welcomes STEVE & BARRYS UNIVERSITY SPORTS WEAR (Brief article)] ] [. [http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/102804/bus_bizbrf001.shtml Macomb Daily Business Briefing, October 28, 2004] ] Shopco continued to manage the mall until selling it to Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation in 2005.

In September 2008, it was announced that the Steve & Barry's would be one of six to close in Michigan. [cite web |url=http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080902/BUSINESS06/80902080 |title=Steve & Barry's to close 6 Michigan stores |accessdate=2008-09-13 |last=Guest |first=Greta |date=2008-09-02 |work=The Detroit Free Press]

"The Lion and Mouse"

One of the mall's centerpieces upon opening was a nine-foot sculpture of a lion and a mouse, titled "The Lion and Mouse". In 1957, the mouse was stolen from the sculpture, only to be replaced by another mouse; in total, the sculpture has gone through no fewer than six mice. In 2007, the sculpture's original mouse was returned to the mall by the person who stole it. [ [http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070706/OPINION03/707060395/1003/METRO Prodigal mouse returns: Pilfered icon back at mall after 50-year trip] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.shopeastland.com/ Official website]