THE CADDY THAT ZIGS. m
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1997
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/-/ in the state of Michigan in 1962,
which is the Summit Place Mall in
Waterford. They built the first pri-
'Th vately developed structure in down-
,—
town Detroit in over 38 years when
they built the Pontchartrain Hotel,
which opened in 1968. And that
same year, they opened Tel-Twelve
Mall," said Dennis Gershenson. .
"Bill and Aaron Gershenson
opened three of the initial Kmart
stores, including the third store in
_the chain, at Plymouth and
/--- Southfield roads. Once, they had a
triple opening of three stores on the
same day and at the exact same time
— that was another first — in
Dayton, Ohio. We have been a
developer of shopping centers ever
since."
Each of Bill Gershenson's four
sons came into the family business as
\--they graduated from undergraduate
or graduate school. They have
worked together for 25 years, which
is when Bruce, the youngest of the
siblings, joined the organization. The
four brothers continue to work
together every day.
Bill Gershenson died 20 years ago,
and Aaron died 16 years ago. "We
ran the business, along with our
\--partner, Michael Ward, until the date
that we went public," said Dennis
Gershenson.
Before Summit Place was devel-
oped, the Gershensons had built a
number of strip shopping centers.
Both Tel-Twelve and Summit
Place have undergone extensive
expansions in recent years, coupled
with some significant change in ten-
ants. At Tel-Twelve, "we expanded
and added Crowleys, Montgomery
Ward downsized, and we added
Office Depot, then Media Play, and
then Circuit City," said Gershenson.
The nearly 45,000-square-foot
Circuit City store, the retailer's first
superstore to be built in an enclosed
mall, resulted from a repositioning at
Tel-Twelve. The new store replaced
MC Sporting Goods, an under-per-
forming regional sporting goods
operation, whose lease was terminat-
ed by Ramco-Gershenson Properties
Trust.
Summit Place originally was a
700,000-square-foot shopping cen-
ter. It has now doubled in size.
What sets Ramco-Gershenson
apart from its competitors is its abili-
,) ty to anticipate potential problems
among its shopping center retail ten-
ants, and quickly and decisively act
upon their analysis. A case in point is
7
OPTION 1 OUT OF STOCK
40 to Choose From
24 Month
Lease
as low as
$299* per month
*Call or see sales person for details • expires 9/30/97
AUDETTE
4.• ,
//
7100 Orchard Lake Rd. (at 141,6 mile) West Bloomfield
(248) 851-7200
The Board of Directors
Maccabi Club
eihroit
Wants to wish its coaches, athletes `and parents
a healthy, happy New Year.
We also want to thank GUARDIAN ALARM, The Lesley
Company, Harron Advertising, Foremost Athletics,
The Migdal Family of Sport City and Preferred Embroidery
and Design for their support and generous contributions to
the 1997 Detroit Maccabi Delegation.
9/26
1997
209