Summit Place Mall, originally Pontiac Mall, was a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

Waterford Township, Michigan Waterford Township is a charter township in the geographic center of Oakland County, Michigan, United States. In 2020, the population of Waterford Township was 70,565. Communities Waterford Township has five unincorporated communities: * Cli ...

, United States. Opened in 1962 as the first enclosed mall in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, it was built on a site. After expansions in 1987 and 1993, it comprised more than of retail space. At its peak, it had approximately 200 inline tenants and six anchor stores:

Hudson's The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson's flagship store, on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit (demolished October 24, 1998), was the tallest ...

(later

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...

, then

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

, J. C. Penney,

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

Service Merchandise Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002. ...

, and

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Haw ...

. Following the opening of

Great Lakes Crossing Outlets Great Lakes Crossing Outlets, formerly Great Lakes Crossing, is a shopping mall in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The site of the mall was originally to have been occupied by a different mall called Auburn ...

in nearby Auburn Hills, Michigan in 1998, Summit Place Mall lost many of its tenants to this newer mall, also losing Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward to their respective bankruptcies in 1999 and 2000. In the 2000s, Summit Place became a dead mall as the majority of its stores closed. Kohl's closed in March 2009 and the mall concourses were closed off in September 2009. J.C. Penney and Macy's remained until early 2010, and Sears until 2014.

History

Michigan's first enclosed shopping center, Pontiac Mall was built at the northwest corner of Telegraph Road ( US 24) and Elizabeth Lake Road, on the boundary between the city of

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

and Waterford Township. Two tenants opened ahead of the mall: a

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...

supermarket began operation in 1961, and a

department store in February 1962. Opening on Thursday, May 10, 1962, the mall featured one other major department store: a "budget" branch of Detroit-based

, which unlike the existing Hudson's stores, did not feature furniture or small appliances. It was later upgraded to a full-line Hudson's store. Among the mall's 42 inline tenants on opening day were a Cunningham Drug pharmacy and a Kresge dime store. It occupied of store area overall. The mall was built by A&W Management (later known as Ramco-Gershenson and now known as

RPT Realty RPT Realty, formerly known as RAMCO Properties Trust and Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates open-air shopping centers. As of August 4, 2021, the company owned 50 shopping c ...

) and its architect was A. Arnold Agree, son of Detroit architect Charles N. Agree. The mall concourses featured over 120 sculptures.

built a store north of the property in 1972, although this store was not part of the mall at the time. In 1972, an elephant named Little Jenny, who starred in the movie ''

Elephant Walk ''Elephant Walk'' is a 1954 American drama film produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by William Dieterle, and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch and Abraham Sofaer.It is based upon the 1948 novel ''Elephant Walk'' by "Robe ...

'', was buried on the mall site. Ramco-Gershenson announced renovation plans on the mall in 1983. According to then-company treasurer Dennis Gershenson, the mall had "fallen behind current shopping center design" and had lost many key tenants such as the Cunningham Drug store due to chains going out of business. The $1,000,000 renovation included new store facades, floors, and ceilings, plus renovated designs for Hudson's and Montgomery Ward.

Foot Locker Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in 1988, Foo ...

and

Kinney Shoes The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from until . Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol KNN, began in March 1923. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a genera ...

were relocated to new storefronts, while new tenants such as

Musicland The Musicland Group, Inc. was an entertainment company that ran Musicland, Sam Goody, Discount Records, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, On Cue, and the Media Play Superstore Chains. The Musicland Group was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 at the hei ...

, Circus World,

The Limited The Limited was an American clothing retailer that operated retail stores between the early 1960s and the late 2010s. After 2007, it became a brand, originally owned by the private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, now owned by another private equ ...

, Casual Corner,

Sibley's Shoes Sibley's Shoes was a retail footwear chain founded in 1920 in the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Harry Rosenfeld. His sons Aaron Ross and Norman Rosenfeld worked for the company and later took over management and own ...

, Gap, and B. Dalton were added. Following the renovations, the mall was renamed Summit Place Mall. J. C. Penney opened at the mall in August 1988, replacing a store in Bloomfield Township. This was part of an expansion first announced in 1987, which added of retail space, along with a

catalog showroom, a MainStreet department store (bought out by

soon after opening), and a connection to the existing Sears. Also included in the new construction was a food court called Picnic Place.

Late 1990s-early 2000s: Decline

Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward closed in 1999 and 2001, respectively, as both chains declared bankruptcy. Also in 2000, Hudson's was remodeled, before being renamed

a year later. After the loss of these two anchors, Summit Place Mall began losing inline tenants, primarily to

, which opened in nearby Auburn Hills, Michigan in 1998. General Growth Properties sold Summit Place Mall in 2002 to California-based Namco Financial. Namco announced plans to change the name of the mall to Festivals of Waterford, and add a family entertainment center as well as a $700,000 kid's play area and a

waterpark A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other b ...

, the latter of which would be located in the former Montgomery Ward. That December, the children's play area opened, although the waterpark plans were canceled after the city decided not to risk the $20 million indoor waterpark, fearing that the income could not repay the debt.

Mid-late 2000-early 2010s

State legislative action in 2005 resulted in a law that would allow the owners of Summit Place to receive a tax abatement for redevelopment of the site. The proposed redevelopment called for demolition of half of the mall, and the rezoning of much of the property to include housing. Marshall Field's was renamed

in September 2006 after Marshall Field's parent company

May Co. The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many ch ...

was purchased by Federated Department Stores (now

Macy's, Inc. Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito' ...

). In August 2007, Waterford Township explored the creation of a "Corridor Improvement Authority," or CIA, to look into future uses for the property. The mall continued to lose tenants throughout the mid-2000s, including all tenants in the food court and the children's playplace. Kohl's closed on March 12, 2009. Following the closure of this anchor, the mall became 96% vacant. The entire mall closed, except for the three remaining anchors, on September 10, 2009. Both J.C. Penney and Macy's closed in March, 2010, following closure announcements in January. Sears, the last tenant of the mall, announced its closure in September, 2014. The store closed December 7, 2014 leaving the entire mega-shopping hub vacant and thus it has become a magnet for vandals, vagrants and scrappers. Waterford Township has placed the mall on its dangerous buildings list and has called for owners to either fix up the mall or tear it down. Demolition on the mall finally began in May, 2019. Summit Place Mall is now Oakland County Business Center.

References

{{Waterford Township, Michigan Shopping malls established in 1962 Shopping malls disestablished in 2009 Demolished shopping malls in the United States Unused buildings in Michigan Shopping malls in Oakland County, Michigan Buildings and structures in Pontiac, Michigan 2014 disestablishments in Michigan Defunct shopping malls in the United States 1962 establishments in Michigan

History

Late 1990s-early 2000s: Decline

Mid-late 2000-early 2010s

See also

References