Great Lakes Crossing

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Great Lakes Crossing is a shopping mall located in Auburn Hills, Michigan, just off I-75 between Baldwin and Joslyn Roads. Upon opening in 1998, it instantly became one of the largest shopping centers in the United States at 1.4 million square feet. It is owned by Taubman Corporation.

Contents 1 History 2 Anchor stores 3 Other major tenants 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

A large shopping mall was proposed in the late 1990s for the city of Auburn Hills, Michigan, north of Detroit. Previously, the site was mostly undeveloped, consisting of mostly trees, swampland, and a dairy farm. The only business operating at the nearby Baldwin Road exit at the time was a McDonald's.

Early on, the center was to be called Auburn Mills and developed by Mills Corporation. The original plans called for a slightly larger mall; due to concerns about the mall's environment, the actual mall - by now dubbed "Great Lakes Crossing" - was 300,000 square feet smaller than originally planned.^[1]

In November 1998, the 1.4 million square foot Great Lakes Crossing opened to the public. The mall featured over 200 tenants, including a mix of regular mall tenants and outlet stores. In addition, the shopping center brought several "firsts" to the state of Michigan, including Bass Pro Shops, GameWorks, Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center, and Rainforest Cafe. Also of note were the mall's large food court and 25-screen movie theater. The mall was also home to the first mall-based Steve & Barry's store in the chain.^[2]

In order to keep up with anticipated traffic demands, three nearby roads were significantly widened, and traffic lights were installed on Baldwin and Joslyn Roads where the mall's access drive meets those roads.

J. C. Penney closed its outlet store at the mall in a round of closings in 2001. Since then, Circuit City has opened in half of the former JCPenney Outlet, while the other half is now a Children's Place. Only one other anchor change has occurred in the mall, when in 2003, Sportmart was acquired by Sports Authority and re-named. Steve & Barry's closed in 2007.

[edit] Anchor stores

• Bed Bath & Beyond
• Burlington Coat Factory
• Bass Pro Shops
• Children's Place
• Circuit City
• Marshalls
• Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center
• Off 5th
• Sports Authority
• TJ Maxx
• Star Theatres (bought by AMC theater corp)

[edit] Other major tenants

• f. y. e.
• GameWorks
• Group USA
• Jeepers!
• Johnny Rockets
• Liz Claiborne Outlet
• Rainforest Cafe
• Pacific Sunwear
• Hot Topic
• Aldo
• American Eagle Outfitters
• Stir Crazy
• Miyako Japanse Steakhouse

[edit] See also

• Architecture of metropolitan Detroit
• Metro Detroit
• Tourism in metropolitan Detroit

[edit] References

1. ^ City Council Meeting minutes, Great Lakes Crossing
2. ^ http://www.specialtyretail.net/issues/may04/steve.htm

[edit] External links

• Shop Great Lakes Crossing Official Site

Metro Detroit shopping malls

Briarwood Mall • Brighton Mall • Canterbury Village • Eastland Center • Fairlane Town Center • Fountain Walk • Great Lakes Crossing • Green Oak Village Place • Lakeside Mall • Laurel Park Place • Livonia Mall • Macomb Mall • The Mall at Partridge Creek • Northland Center • Oakland Mall • Pointe Plaza • Renaissance Center • Somerset Collection • Southland Center • Summit Place Mall • Tower Center • Twelve Oaks Mall • Universal Mall • Village of Rochester Hills • Westborn Mall • Westland Center