Northwestern Highway north of 12 Mile Road.
Apo
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Old Orchard center at Orchard Lake Road and Maple.
of the rare quiet moments on Northwestern.
One
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Park West Plaza and La Mirage.
ket. Siegal declines to state exact
earnings, saying only that the Be-
znos team has been "very, very suc-
cessful." But other local developers
have been forced into making finan-
cial concessions.
Margulies created the 33,000-
square-foot La Mirage 21/2 years ago
by converting an office building. Un-
like his Sterling Heights shopping
center which has never had a vac-
ancy in 16 years, La Mirage became
profitable only six months ago when
for the first time it was fully leased.
Margulies, who has successful prop-
erties throughout the metro area,
has been known to lure retail ten-
ants with up to three _months free
rent.
The group led by Sills has just
recently turned around the economic
viability of the 14-year-old Orchard
Mall which they acquired in 1979.
"When I came in seven years ago, I
felt like Knute Rockne at half time
— I felt like I needed to create an
,
uplift," says Sills.
He was faced with a gloomy
group of merchants. The 13 5-
square-foot mall had several prob-
lems: the tenant mix was poor, the
signage was a clutter of sight pollu-
tion, the large corridors gave a sense
of desolation, and the stores were too
large. Also, merchants often see an
inherent negative in small malls.
They don't get the visibility a strip
center offers, nor do they get the
heavy traffic found in a large mall of
80 or 90 stores.
"As investors, we recognized
there'd be no immediate cash bene-
fits. But our feelings were that the
location would overcome the
shortcomings," says Sills. The sur-
rounding residential growth looked
very attractive.
The Orchard Mall Partners
made numerous, and costly, physical
improvements. The mall is now fully
occupied. (All but two stores are di-
rected to female patrons.) Leases
shorter than the typical five-year
were offered so merchants could test
the marketplace. "We felt we could
convince the tenant we were a good
property," explains Sills. And al-
though he declines to quote rental
rates, he says they are on the low
end in the area. We created an eco-
nomic environment that was tough
to turn down."
Of all the tenants signed under
Sills' tenure, only one has been lost
to relocation. Sills says the sleepless
nights are now behind him. His pro-
nouncement: "The center has ar-
rived."
And with that arrival, fueled by
"cutting the right kind of economic
deals," has also come Sugar Tree.
The strip, which sports a trendy
Florida Deco logo, is so close to Or-
chard Mall that the centers share a
parking lot — a surprisingly cozy
proximity for developers and retail-
ers who are competing for the same
consumer dollars. With so many
strip centers vying in the same vic-
inity, how can they all expect to
keep the cash registers ringing?
"There's a shopping mentality
that resides here," explains Siegal.
"These are people who like new and
wonderful things." All the develop-
ers treasure the upscale demog-
raphics of the area. Furthermore,
Siegal and others note the customer
base extends beyond the surrounding
affluent neighborhoods. According to
retailers, shoppers come in from as
far away as Flint to the north and
downriver to the south. They say
customers drive in from all the sub-
urbs, even the Pointes and St. Clair
Shores.
Developers give several reasons
for the success of the seemingly
saturated retail area: small, owner-
operated shops that emphasize per-
sonal service, high visibility along
heavily trafficked roadways, sophis-
ticated merchandise, high household
incomes, the decline of downtown
Detroit's shopping district. And high
on the list is the magnetic strength
of numbers; apparently a nearby
Sugar Tree is good for the entire Or-
chard. "In fact," says Sills, "we sold
them (Sugar Tree) a small parcel of
land to increase the size of their de-
velopment, to create a larger retail
scenario."
A large retail scenario is a pre-
tty picture to merchants and de-
velopers. More than one wistfully
remember the Avenue of Fashion
and believe the Northwestern-
Orchard Lake corridor is positioned
to be what the Seven Mile and
Livernois district was in its heyday.
Only a handful of non-mall
shopping districts exist in southeast-
ern Michigan. Downtown Ann Ar-
bor, Kercheval in Grosse Pointe, and
the Dearborn and Plymouth down-
towns make the list of Robert Schos-
tak, vice president of real estate
giant Schostak Bros. and a noted
authority in the shopping center in-
dustry. "And of course Birmingham,"
he adds, "which has more square
footage of shops (than the
Northwestern-Orchard Lake area)."
Quite simply, shoppers like the
convenience of a compact group of
merchants. And time is an invalu-
able currency. Detractors of large,
regional malls may admit the
enclosed behemoths offer a smorgas-
bord of choices, but complain malls
require an afternoon of walking and
searching, as well as new Nikes to
make the trek from the parking lot.
Likewise, shopping in Birming-
ham often means first being in the
market for a parking space. Strip
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