Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (2024)

David Haysmer is beaming at the other end of the phone, reminiscing of a bygone era. "How in the world did you find me?" he askswith a hearty laugh.

Haysmer has made a more than 35-year career in the world of real estate and property management. His journeyhas taken him to a high-level role within JLL, a commercial real estate company, with he and his family based in southern Florida. In the early 1980s, Haysmer was an up-and-coming talent with The Forbes Co., chargedwith managing the company'svoyage into Calhoun County: theLakeview Square Mall.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (1)

These days it'sadmittedlya little foggy to Haysmer, but as soon as gets going, the memories start rushing back. He remembers the 10,000 orange and black balloons sailing into the sky on opening day; he remembers the mall's layout and many of its stores.

He even recalls the desolation of Beckley Road beforethe mall's arrival, and he's not at all surprised thatthe surrounding area has evolvedinto the shopping focal point of Battle Creek.

"It was a great experience for me," he recalled. "It was the first time I actually started running amall that came out of the ground. I was involved in construction meetings and mall meetings and landscape meetings. I didn't have the direct responsibility (for everything), but you had to know what's going on and know the people.

"That was an important time."

In its day, Lakeview Square was one of the brightest lights shininginBattle Creek. It was a sign of expansion, of commerce, as well as governmental and private industry fortitude sought after in communities in every corner of the United States. We had arrived.

However, more than three decades after the mall opened its doors, the lights have dimmed a bit atLakeview Square after multiple property sales and the appearance of empty storefronts. In some ways, the mall has become a shadow of its former self, a convex mirror reflection of the imageprojected when it opened 32 years ago.

'The hippest and coolest place'

Lakeview Square Mall is a relic of the time it was built, an enclosed shopping center in the era of MTV VJs, high-waisted pants and the Rubik's Cube. The $40 million facility, spearheaded by developers Sidney Forbes and Maurice Cohen, was built after years of governmental bickering, settling in on a then-rural part of Beckley Road not far from I-94. It was to create about 1,200 jobs in nearly 100 storefronts -- including three anchor stores -- with 2,800 parking spaces to accommodate southwestern Michigan shoppers.

Amid much fanfare, including performances by singer Tony Bennett and bandleader Count Basie and his orchestra, the mall opened to the public on Aug. 3, 1983.

More than 10,000 attended the opening ceremony, in whichMayor Floyd Oglesby remarked that it was "the most beautiful mall in Michigan and perhaps all of America." Its featured marble flooring, visually appealing staggered storefronts and extensive, oak-trimmed planting areas as well as artwork tastefullyplaced throughoutits 650,000 square feet of space.

"The artwork that was put in, it was just, things that typically didn't go into malls in those days," Haysmersaid earlier this month. "This one was head and shoulders above (other malls) in terms of design. ... It was just different than what was out there at the time."

It opened at 70 percent occupancy with 15 women's apparel shops, six men's shops, 11 shoe stores, five jewelry stores and nine food service outlets, according to Enquirer archives.

Anchor storesJCPenney, which shuttered its downtown store in favor of Lakeview Square,Sears and Hudson's were the focal points of the mall with luscious planters surrounding them andskylights drawing the eye to the storefronts.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (3)

Theearly years saw crowds flood these stores fortheirsales on high-end apparelonce found in downtown Battle Creek and elsewhere. Over time, the mall welcomed storesfor music (Camelot Music and Recordtown), electronics (Radio Shack and Shaak Electronics), books (Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Bookseller), shoes (Foot Locker and Big Sky) and restaurants and food options (The Great Wall, Cafe Mexico, The Cookie Bin, Chi Chi's,The Great Hot Dog Experience and A'Roma Villa, among many others).

John Hart, an independent contractor who oversees downtown development in Battle Creek, was a teenager when the mall opened, and he remembers the environment it once had. Hart said the beginning of its existence featured bands and car shows and many activities that motivated shoppers, young and old, to go there to keep up with the trends.

"It was so vibrant and such a place to be that you had to go and check it out every weekend," Hart recalled. "If you weren't checking it out every weekend, things were changing and you were behind the times. You wouldn't be considered in-the-know and you had to check it out."

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (4)

It was an attractive draw to vendors such as former Battle Creek mayor and longtime local business owner, John Godfrey. Godfrey, who was the owner ofGodfrey Jewelers in the downtown area, opened a second location at Lakeview Square in early 1984.

"The idea of Lakeview Square Mall was there was so much shopping dollars that were leaving the community at that time," Godfrey said. "Kalamazoo had both West Main and Maple Hill malls, the big mall in Ann Arbor had come about and they were pulling retail dollars out of Battle Creek."

Doubledilemma

Lakeview Square quickly became the epicenter of the area's shopping culture. And while it was a celebrated entity among many, others bemoaned its negative effect oncommerce in the downtown area.

The construction of Lakeview Square drew nervouscriticism from downtown businesses, many of whom aired them out in a July 31, 1983, edition of the Enquirer. Some believed Lakeview Square would be another nail in the downtown's coffin, draining it of commerce dollars.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (5)

"The first few months after Lakeview Square opens will have an impact on us downtown retailers," Helen Devine of Devines' Great Frame & Art Supply Co., told the Enquirer at the time. "Certainly it will not be the death of the downtown, which is going through a revitalization to make it very attractive."

Of course, there was a downtown answer to the Lakeview Square project. The same era brought the creation of the Michigan Mall, completed for about $2 million in 1976, and the area's "Superblock," which featured a Stouffer's Hotel -- now the McCamly Plaza Hotel -- Kellogg Arena and McCamly Place. McCamly Place was expected to be a juggernaut with 35 stores, restaurant options and food stores, the Enquirer reported.

It was adjacent tothe freshly builtKellogg Co. world headquarters which also was expected to reinvigorate a large portion of the area.

However, the area never flourished -- hobbled by its own design and by the dollars spent at Lakeview Square. By 1992, the City Commission voted to tear out the Michigan Mall and reopen Michigan Avenue.

For Godfrey, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"When you look at it now, (the Michigan Mall) was allowing traffic to circumvent the downtown because we closed off the main street and put big, one-direction signs on Jackson and State Street," Godfrey said. "It allowed people to go around the downtown rather than into the downtown. So, that had an additional devastating effect on the downtown."

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (6)

In spite ofLakeview Square's success indrawing businesses, and commercial growthalong the rest of the once-desolate corridor, it gradually repelled local businesses.

Godfrey, who left the mall in about 1990, said it's "very costly" for a local business to operate within the confines of a mall structure. On top of monthly rent, he said he was required to pay additional fees for center court and parking lot maintenance that was not stipulated in the lease, echoing a common complaint by local businesses setting up shop at the mall.Still, Godfrey said creating a new store in the mall "was a great ego trip," andhe and his staff weresadto leave.

Adapt and create

The death of the modern mall has been widely publicized, and by someaccounts, a littleoverblown. As photographers and adventurous trespassersacross the countrydocument ruinin abandoned malls, like the Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio and the Cloverleaf Mall in Chesterfield, Va., itonlyhasstrengthened the narrative that malls are struggling.

A mall's survivalis tied to themarket it inhabits, storeoccupancy rates and management's ability to create a flourishing atmosphere. The environment surrounding the mall also plays a factor, as thriving facilities often mimic the convenience and style of a downtown area, Hart said.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (7)

"I don't see malls as a bad thing, but part of their problem is they're not mixed-use; they're destination only," Hart said. "If you're going there, you're going for one thing -- shopping or dining or some sort of experience. You go in and you're out. You don't live within blocks so it's not like you're doing convenience-type shopping; you're doing destination-type shopping."

Green Street Advisors, a North American real estate analyst company that studies malls, groups them into four categories: A++, A, B and C/D -- B malls are the most common. According to the firm's 2015 U.S. Mall Outlook, the top centers are defined as a"dominant mall in a top market" with "strong demographics" and a "strong tourist draw." Malls on the lower end of the spectrum, however, have lower sales productivity, "declining occupancy," and "one or more anchor vacancies."

In an Aug. 7 email to the Enquirer, a company spokespersonsaid about "two dozen enclosed malls have been closed" since 2010, and that "an additional 75 are on the brink" of closure.

The company declined to classify Lakeview Square for this story. ButPat Huddleston, a professor of advertising and public relations at Michigan State University who's familiar with the classification system, said Lakeview Square likely would be considereda class C shopping center, similar to the Meridian Mall in Okemos.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (8)

Huddleston said malls fail for a number of reasons, whether it's high vacancy rates, abad location or the rise of online shopping. The ones that adapt tochallenges to create a vibrant place to shop, she said, will survive. She cited stores such as Cabela's, which she called "a destination store," that provides customers a "fun shopping experience."

"Malls are not going to completely die out," she said. "Some malls are going to fail and we're already seeing that. They are building -- in some places like Miami, for example --they're building class A malls. People are going to continue to shop, but they want a unique shopping experience when they do go."

The future

It's difficultto know where Lakeview Square Mall is headed. The mall has gone through a series of sales over the years from Forbes/Cohen Properties to General Growth Properties in 1998 to Cushman & Wakefield in 2011 and to GK Development Inc. in 2013.

GK Development, a Barrington, Ill.-based real estate company,purchased Lakeview Square out of foreclosure for $8.8 million, according to Enquirer archives. City records have Lakeview Square and the 32 acres it sits onassessed at $13.1 million as recently as 2012. Upon purchase of the mall, Marianne Fasano, a public relations consultant for GK, told the Enquirer in 2013the company was planning "an aggressive leasing effort" for the mall, but she couldn't specifically detail what that meant.

The past 15 years has seen the mallwelcomemajorchains-- Dunham's, Barnes & Noble, Shoe Dept. Encoreand Buffalo Wild Wings, which takes up a large portion of the former food court -- while some stores -- Old Navy, Steve & Barry's, Radioshack, Deb and Spencer's, among others -- have closed up shop in the mall. The mall's movie theater, Carmike Lakeview Square Cinemas, and Applebee's arehot spots and itsanchor slots remain filled by JCPenney, Sears and Macy's, the eventual purchaser of Hudson's after it had been acquired years earlier by Dayton-Hudson Corp. and rebranded as a Marshall Field & Co. store.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (9)

The mall's website currently lists 51 total vendors at Lakeview Square,including the three it counts for JCPenney's family of services and Don Pablo's, which is not attached to the mall but sits on the mall's property.

Still, questions remain. At the corporate level,JCPenney and Sears have reported slumping sales, causing both to rethink strategies nationwide. Also, Macy's announced in September the chain plans to close as many as 40 stores by early 2016, andcompany spokesperson Jim Sluzewski said in a Sept. 28email to the Enquirer the company "has not yet finalized decisions" on what stores will close.

Losing one or more anchor stores would bea major blow to Lakeview Square and its remaining tenants. There are plenty of empty spaceswhere vibrant storefronts once stood.

Mark Dycus, the general manager of Lakeview Square Mall, and Fasano declined requests for interviews for this story. When asked to set up a meeting with the Enquirer, Dycus replied with a statement that said in partthat GK is "using a variety of marketing tools and strategies, including space re-configurations, to aggressively address a challenging retail environment. When new information is available, we will be happy to share it with you."

It remains unclear what the plans are for the future of Lakeview Square Mall, and GK has made it clear it's not willing to share them.

What is clear, however, is Lakeview Square's lasting impact on Beckley Road. The creation of the mall revealed a demand for shopping that since has been filled by the nearby Harper Village, the Minges Creek Mall and many other businesses,restaurants and grocery storesalong the strip. It also fostersa sense of optimism among city leadership for future developments in the area, Ted Dearing,Battle Creek's assistant city manager, said.

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (10)

"Sometimes, what appears to be a very big project, is not as difficult to execute as you think," Dearing said Friday. "What (the construction of the mall) really was was a response to consumer demand. Everything you see out there is a response to market demands. These kinds of things can come together inBattle Creek pretty quickly."

Lakeview Square carries on, though the architecturally rich interior has been stripped down. Gone are the lush planters and babblingwater fountains and high-dollar stage performances. Those have been replaced with stained wooden benches, cell phone kiosks and motorized stuffed animals to ride the length of the corridor.

Hart is among those watching and waiting to see how things play out for the mall in these changing times.

"A lot of communities, some of those larger malls don't exist as they've been torn down," Hart said. "I don't think ours is at risk of that level.

"It's not so large that it can't probably reinvent itself."

Contact Dillon Davis at 269-966-0698 or dwdavis@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter:@DillonDavis

Lakeview Square Mall's aura fades amid retailing shift (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Chrissy Homenick

Last Updated:

Views: 6133

Rating: 4.3 / 5 (54 voted)

Reviews: 85% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Chrissy Homenick

Birthday: 2001-10-22

Address: 611 Kuhn Oval, Feltonbury, NY 02783-3818

Phone: +96619177651654

Job: Mining Representative

Hobby: amateur radio, Sculling, Knife making, Gardening, Watching movies, Gunsmithing, Video gaming

Introduction: My name is Chrissy Homenick, I am a tender, funny, determined, tender, glorious, fancy, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.