SOUTHFIELD (WXYZ) — The City of Southfiled has accepted an offer for the old Northland Mall site, and the new developers plan to turn the property into a mixed-use redevelopment that includes apartments, retail and restaurants.
The property, which was sold to the City of Southfiled in 2015, was at one time looked at to house an Amazon headquarters, but that did not take place.
The new developer, Contour Companies of Bloomfield Hills, purchased the land for $11,093,000.
“Following the purchase of Northland in 2015, the City held several 'Imagine the Possibilities' public input meetings with the community to share their ideas and input for the future of the former mall site. The City held strong to that community vision for four years with little developer interest. Contour not only supports the City's vision, they actually plan to exceed it! Further, Contour believes in adaptive reuse of existing structures,” commented Mayor Dr. Ken Siver. “I have felt all along that it would be a wasteful shame to demolish the entire mall. The Hudson's building and the original portions of the mall were extremely well built and should be saved. We construct buildings for one use, times change and instead of demolition, we should invest in repurposing those structures for new uses.”
The company has already completed extensive work on its redevelopment plans which include the adaptive re-use of the former Hudson’s Department Store, the underground tunnels and the original (1954) retail pads, a release states.
“The City purchased Northland because we wanted to control the destiny of this very strategic and historic property,” added Council President Dr. Lloyd Crews. “We turned away factories, light manufacturing, medical marijuana, big box retail, warehouses and logistics centers and held out for development that would grow our tax base and population. This redevelopment will provide our community and residents something that we can all enjoy and be proud of for years to come. I truly believe that this mixed-use redevelopment will also serve as a model for other communities across the country.”
Before the sale is finalized, the developers must complete a 90-day due diligence period which will complete in January 2021. After that, construction and demolition is expected to begin spring 2021.
