Arborland Center
Shopping mall in Michigan, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arborland Center is a shopping center located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Opened in 1961 as an unenclosed shopping mall, the center was redeveloped as a power center in 1998.[3] Current anchor stores include Marshalls, Petco, Kroger, Ulta, Old Navy, Gardner-White Furniture (that used to be a Toys "R" Us), and Bed Bath & Beyond.
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| Location | Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States |
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| Coordinates | 42°15′21.8″N 83°41′15.2″W |
| Opened | 1961, redeveloped 1998[1] |
| Closed | 1998 (original mall only)[2] |
| Developer | Taubman Centers (original mall) Simon Property Group (1980s mall) |
| Owner | Brixmor Property Group |
| Stores | 26 |
| 7 | |
| Floor area | 406,736 sq ft (37,787.0 m2) |
| Floors | 1 |
Public transit |  AAATA 4, 66, 67, 104 |
History
Arborland was Ann Arbor's first suburban mall, opened in the early 1960s. The original Arborland featured JCPenney,[4] Kresge, Kroger, and Montgomery Ward among its anchor stores. In 1973, the larger Briarwood Mall opened, and JCPenney moved to a newer store there. Competition from Briarwood caused Arborland to lose tenants throughout the end of the 1970s.[5][6] E.N. Maisel & Associates purchased the mall in 1980 and enclosed its formerly open-air concourses, while replacing the vacated JCPenney store with Crowley's.[7] Despite these additions, the mall continued to lose tenants, including Montgomery Ward, Sibley's Shoes, and Pearle Vision in early 1983.[8]
Melvin Simon & Associates (now Simon Property Group) began renovations on converting the mall to discount and outlet stores in 1983,[9] which necessitated closing of the Crowley's store as it was incompatible with the discount format.[8] At the time of Simon's purchase, the center had only 13 tenants.[10] Simon attracted over 45 new stores, including new anchor stores Burlington Coat Factory, Service Merchandise, F&M, Toys "R" Us, and Marshalls, along with a food court.[5]
In the late 1990s Freed and Associates purchased it on the cheap and razed most of the structure, transforming it into a big box cluster. Toys "R" Us was rebuilt during the "de-malling" of the center, while Marshalls and the former F&M building (now occupied by OfficeMax) were retained. Freed's purchase price was around $6 million; within a decade, in 2005, Freed was said to be seeking a buyer for over $100 million.[6] Freed did shortly find a buyer for the 409,000 sq ft (38,000 m2) center. The facility was purchased by AmCap, through a joint venture with Los Angeles-based Hart Realty Advisers for a reported $102 million.[11]
The Borders in Arborland closed in April 2011.[12][13] A year later, its space was split between Five Below and Ulta.[14] Nordstrom Rack was confirmed in 2013 for a space vacated by Circuit City in 2009.[15]