Eureka and Pardee Roads
Taylor, Michigan
Greater Detroit's fourth -and final- directional shopping mall was built on a 67.9-acre site, located 13 miles southwest of Detroit's Central Business District. When planning got underway for SOUTHLAND CENTER in the mid-1960s, its site was located in an unincorporated section of Wayne County known as Taylor Township. The City of Taylor, which took in the SOUTHLAND site, came into being in May 1968.
Like its three sibling centers, SOUTHLAND was developed by the J.L. Hudson Company, under the auspices of Shopping Centers, Incorporated. The mall was designed by Los Angeles' Victor Gruen Associates and Southfield, Michigan's Louis G. Redstone Associates.
Encompassing approximately 535,500 leasable square feet and sixty-five stores and services, the fully-enclosed facility was officially dedicated on July 20, 1970. Like the original NORTHLAND, EASTLAND and WESTLAND malls, it was initially a single-anchor complex.
The SOUTHLAND mall was situated around a 3-level (247,200 square foot), Detroit-based Hudson's. There were also a single-level (35,000 square foot) Hudson's Budget Store, (33,900 square foot) Kroger supermarket and (34,400 square foot) F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. At the north end of the East Court was a water wall fountain and stage. In the main shopping concourse, connecting the East and West Courts, was a large bird aviary.
Charter tenants included Chess King, Foxmoor Casuals, Hot Sam Pretzels, Land of Hi-Fi, Singer Sewing Center and Winkelman's ladies' wear. The Suburban Detroit Theatres Southland 1 & 2 debuted on October 8, 1970. The venue was reconfigured as the Southland 4, which opened on December 16, 1983.
The first expansion of the mall was completed in the mid-1970s. It added a 2-level (215,000 square foot) J.C. Penney, dedicated on October 6, 1976, and an East Wing of twenty-five stores. SOUTHLAND CENTER now encompassed approximately 929,100 leasable square feet and contained eighty-three stores and services.
A 1-level (75,000 square foot) Mervyn's opened its doors on August 12, 1988. As part of a 4 million dollar renovation, the West Wing concourse was reconfigured to accommodate the new Mervyn's. New skylights and signage were installed and all mall entrances rebuilt. The original fountain wall and bird aviary were removed.
The gross leasable area of SOUTHLAND CENTER had been expanded to approximately 1,001,000 square feet. In 1989, the mall was acquired by Maryland's Rouse Company. They hired New Mexico's Reginald Wade Richey to design a culinary complex to be added to the south facade. Plans were announced in September 1991. The 12-bay Picnic In The Garden was dedicated on November 19, 1992. Its vendors included McDonald's, Sbarro the Italian Eatery and Taco Bell.
There were -and are- three primary SOUTHLAND competitors in Greater Detroit's "Downriver" area. The first was a medium-sized strip complex known as SOUTHGATE CENTER (1958) {3.1 miles east, in Southgate}. Next was FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER (1976) {8 miles northeast, in Dearborn}. Lastly, there was FRENCHTOWN SQUARE MALL (1988) {17.9 miles southwest, in Monroe County}, which was renamed MALL OF MONROE in 2009.
The first anchor rebranding at SOUTHLAND took place in August 2001, when the Hudson's nameplate was replaced with a Marshall Field's brand. In 2004, Chicago's General Growth Properties acquired the assets of The Rouse Company, making SOUTHLAND CENTER a GGP holding.
The year 2006 brought major changes. Picnic In The Garden closed in January, with five fast food outlets relocating within the mall. The vacant food court was gutted and expanded into a 1-level (45,000 square foot) Best Buy, which opened for business in late 2006. Mervyn's shut down in February. The Marshall Field's name was retired, and replaced with a Macy's brand, in September.
Meanwhile, the Southland 4 cinema had closed for good in January 1999. In August 2000, its space became a (22,500 square foot) Borders Books. This was shuttered in September 2011, with a relocated Forever 21 moving into the space in the spring of 2013.
General Growth Properties created Rouse Properties, a spin-off Real Estate Investment Trust for "Grade B" malls, in January 2012. SOUTHLAND CENTER became a Rouse Properties holding at this time. The portfolio of thirty-five shopping centers was sold in July 2016, with the buyer being an affiliate of Toronto's Brookfield Asset Management.
Meanwhile, Rouse Properties had embarked on a 60 million dollar renovation of SOUTHLAND CENTER in the summer of 2014. The vacant Mervyn's was demolished. It was replaced by the state-of-the-art Cinemark Southland Center & XD. The 12-screen multiplex showed its first features on April 21, 2016.
An outdoor plaza, with two sit-down restaurants, was installed adjacent to Forever 21, in the southwest corner of the mall. A Primanti Brothers sandwich shop welcomed its first diners on August 2, 2016. Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria debuted on April 24, 2017. With these modifications, the shopping hub housed approximately 920,000 leasable square feet and eighty tenant spaces.
Sources:
The Detroit Free Press
http://motor-city-retail-history.blogspot.com / "Matt Burb"
http://www.therousecompany.com (Website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.flickr.com / "Downriver Things" Photostream
www.detroityes.comwww.cinematreasures.org
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
https://brookfieldproperties.com / Brookfield Properties
"Southland Center" article on Wikipedia
