Northland Center

Northland Center was a one-level shopping mall 13.5 miles (21.7 km) northwest of downtown Detroit, Michigan, between Greenfield Road, J.L. Hudson Drive, Northwestern Highway and John C. Lodge Freeway in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit. The mall had six anchors which once housed JCPenney, Kohl's, Macy's, Montgomery Ward, Target and T.J. Maxx.
== Power Center ==
On March 22, 1954, Northland Center officially opened. The complex was sprawling, 1,040,200 square foot, open-air structure. It encompassed 2-levels. The ground floor was devoted entirely to retail. A shopping concourses, storage areas, mall offices, a United States Postal Service, Community Room and a truck tunnel network. The complex was built by J.L. Hudson Company (Hudson's) who also built a four-level Hudson's store as an anchor. The complex opened with 67 stores and services, those tenants include Baker's Shoes, Barna-Bee, Chandler's Shoes, Hot 'N' Kold, Hughes & Hatcher, Kroger, Robinson Furniture, Sanders Candy, S.S. Kresge and many more. During the 1960s, other shopping malls began to be developed causing competition with Northland, those malls were Livonia Mall in Livonia which opened in 1964, Westland Center in Westland which opened in 1965, and Tel-Twelve Mall in Southfield which opened in 1968. As a result, Northland had been expanded. Hudson's added a 5th floor in 1960, with the store enlarged to 537,000 square feet. More stores joined as a result of the expansion which were B. Dalton Bookseller, Barclay Gallery Limited, Best & Company, GQ, Modern Shoppe and Tall Eez Shoes.
== Enclosed Mall ==
On August 3, 1975, Northland Center reopened as a fully enclosed shopping facility, 21 more stores were added bringing a total of 1.5 million leasable square feet with a total of 102 stores and services. With the new renovations and expansions, a second anchor to the mall was added which was JCPenney. In August 1988, MainStreet joined as a third anchor to the mall, however MainStreet would convert into Kohl's a year later in March, 1989. In November 1991, more renovations took place which brought new lighting, ceiling, flooring and skylights were installed. A brand new 8-bay food court was created in existing mall space. In November 1994, Montgomery Ward and T.J. Maxx opened new anchor stores at the mall. In March 1996, Target joined as a sixth anchor. In 1999, Jeepers opened at the mall but only lasted three years and closed in 2002.
== Decline ==
Northland Center began to decline once the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills opened in 1998. Montgomery Ward closed down in early 1998 due to the store being underperforming. In 2000, JCPenney closed down. In August 2001, Hudson's was converted into Marshall Field's. In October 2004, National Wholesale Liquidators opened in the former Montgomery Ward space. Also in 2004, Kohl's pulled out of the mall. in September 2006, Marshall Field's was converted into Macy's. Northland Center's major decline began after Target closed in February 2015, leaving the already struggling massive mall with just one anchor to sustain it. In March 2015, Macy's, the last remaining anchor tenant closed down. On April 15, 2015, Northland Center was permanently closed and the mall was left abandoned.
== Demolition & Redevelopment ==
In September 2021, demolition began on the Northland Center that had been sitting abandoned for six years, the entire mall was demolished except for the former Macy's. Plans were announced to redevelop the site into the Northland City Center and include large-scale housing and some retail.
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Malls in Michigan
Category:Defunct malls
Category:Former Malls
Category:Demolished Malls
Category:Detroit Area Malls
Category:Oakland County, Michigan
Category:Former JCPenney-anchored Malls
Category:Former Kohl's-anchored Malls
Category:Former Macy's-anchored Malls
Category:Former Wards-anchored Malls
Category:Former Target-anchored Malls
Category:Former T.J. Maxx-anchored Malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1975
Category:Abandoned malls
Category:Former Hudson's-anchored Malls
Category:Former MainStreet-anchored Malls
Category:Former Marshall Field's-anchored Malls