Arborland Center

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.[1] Current anchor stores include Marshalls, Petco, Gardner-White Furniture (that used to be a Toys "R" Us) and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Arborland Center

Location	Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Coordinates	42°15′21.8″N 83°41′15.2″W
Opening date	1961, redeveloped 1999
Developer	Taubman Centers (original mall) Simon Property Group (1980s mall)
Management	AmCap Incorporated
Owner	Brixmor Property Group
No. of stores and services	26
No. of anchor tenants	7
Total retail floor area	406,736 sq ft (37,787.0 m^2)
No. of floors	1
Public transit access	AAATA 4, 24, 66

History

Arborland sign on Washtenaw Ave.

Arborland was Ann Arbor's first suburban mall, opened in the early 1960s. The original Arborland featured JCPenney,[2] 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.[3][4] 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.[5] Despite these additions, the mall continued to lose tenants, including Montgomery Ward, Sibley's Shoes, and Pearle Vision in early 1983.[6]

Melvin Simon & Associates (now Simon Property Group) began renovations on converting the mall to discount and outlet stores in 1983,[7] which necessitated closing of the Crowley's store as it was incompatible with the discount format.[6] At the time of Simon's purchase, the center had only 13 tenants.[8] 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.[3]

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.[4] 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.[9]

The Borders in Arborland closed in April 2011.[10][11] A year later, its space was split between Five Below and Ulta.[12] Nordstrom Rack was confirmed in 2013 for a space vacated by Circuit City in 2009.[13]

On March 15, 2018, Toys "R" Us announced that it would close all of its US stores, including the location at Arborland. As of January of

2021, the Toys "R" Us space is occupied by a furniture store called Gardner-White Furniture.

References

1. "The Company – Timeline". Josephfreed.com. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
2. Clark, Sandra (February 18, 1990). "GALLERIA'S DRAW MAY ACTUALLY BOOST OFF-PRICE THRUWAY MALL". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
3. Chandler, Michele (November 1, 1984). "Arborland gets off to a new start -- off-price". Detroit Free Press. p. 4a. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
4. GARDNER, PAULA. "Owners list Arborland mall for sale". Ann Arbor Business Review. mlive.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-14. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
5. "Arborland will become mall". Detroit Free Press. January 31, 1980. p. 4B. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
6. Hansell, Betsey (May 5, 1983). "Crowley leaving Arborland". Detroit Free Press. p. 9D. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
7. Baacke, Cheryl (May 26, 1983). "Arborland promises big bargains". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
8. Conklin, Carole (April 11, 1985). "Can you teach old mall new tricks?". Detroit Free Press. p. 6B. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
9. "News From October 14, 2005". Real Estate Business. REBusiness. October 14, 2005. Archived from the original on June 14, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
10. Paula Gardiner (16 February 2011). "Arborland Borders will close; downtown Ann Arbor & Lohr Road not on bankruptcy closing list". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
11. Angela Smith (15 April 2011). "Somber mood sets in as Borders store at Arborland plans to close Sunday". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
12. "Retailer Five Below opening first Ann Arbor store this week". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
13. "Nordstrom Rack confirms it plans to open a store in Arborland". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 24 September 2015.