Michigan Avenue / US 12 and Evergreen Road
Dearborn, Michigan
One of America's most futuristic Mid-20th Century shopping malls was built on a 275-acre plot, located 12.3 miles west of center city Detroit, in suburban Dearborn. FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER was a joint venture of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Taubman Centers and Dearborn-based Ford Motor Land Development Company. It was the centerpiece of Ford's master-planned, 2,360 acre, Fairlane community.
Like Chicago's WOODFIELD MALL and San Jose's EASTRIDGE CENTER (two other Taubman properties), FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER consisted of two retail levels, with a smaller third floor sandwiched between the two at the center of the center.
A mall-wide grand opening was held on March 2, 1976. Dedicated on this day were a 2-level (244,000 square foot) Sears and 2-level (200,000 square foot) J.C. Penney. Over fifty inline stores also opened for business. These included Schneider's Sports Shops, Bernard's ladies' wear, Lobby Hobby and Hughes & Hatcher men's wear.
Shopping courts and concourses were decorated by several works of art. "Encounter", by Milwaukee's Richard Lippold, graced the mall's Grand Court. Other sculptures were created by David Barr (of Detroit), Armand Arman (of Paris and New York City) and Chris Byers (of Colorado).
The Fairlane Ice Arena, an indoor skating rink, opened on March 3, 1976. On the level above was the United Artists The Movies At Fairlane multiplex. This 5-screen venue showed first features on March 31, 1976. A 3-level (240,000 square foot) Detroit-based Hudson's opened its doors on July 19, 1976. At this time, the shopping hub encompassed approximately 1,279,000 square feet. There were eventually 185 stores and services.
Commercial competitors of FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER included NORTHLAND CENTER (1954) {8.7 miles northeast, in Southfield}, WONDERLAND CENTER (1959) {6.5 miles northwest, in Livonia}, WESTLAND CENTER (1965) {8.4 miles northwest, in Westland}, and SOUTHLAND CENTER (1970) {7.8 miles southwest, in Taylor}.
The most noteworthy feature of the 1970s FAIRLANE mall was its ACTS, or Automatically-Controlled Transportation System. Originally proposed as a double-tracked, 2 mile loop, the people mover was to link the Ford World Headquarters, an office complex, FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER and a new Hyatt hotel.
The system put into service in March 1976 had been scaled down to operate over a half-mile of track. Its elevated guideway connected Level 2 of the mall with the adjoining Hyatt Regency Dearborn. Serving as Ford's experiment in personal rapid transit technology, the ACTS was dismantled and removed from the premises in 1989.
In the meantime, FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER had been expanded. A 2-level (122,000 square foot) Lord & Taylor opened, in conjunction with a new store at Greater Detroit's TWELVE OAKS MALL, on March 6, 1978. A 2-level (90,000 square foot) Saks Fifth Avenue debuted on February 22, 1980. The five-anchor shopping hub now encompassed approximately 1,491,000 leasable square feet.
Changes were made to the existing cinema complex. In 1982, the Fairlane Ice Arena was retrofitted as five additional cinematic auditoriums, for a total of ten. This structure was razed in 1998 and replaced by the Loeks Star 21 Theatres, which made its debut on May 18, 2000. Today, after a couple of nameplate changes, the venue operates as the AMC Fairlane 21.
Anchor store nameplate changes began in November 1997, when Saks Fifth Avenue was demoted to a 1-level (30,000 square foot) Saks Off Fifth clearance store. Hudson's was rebranded, as a Chicago-based Marshall Field's, in August 2001 and was "Macy-ated" September 9, 2006. Lord & Taylor had pulled up stakes in August 2005. Saks Off Fifth was shuttered on December 31, 2007.
The most noteworthy feature of the 1970s FAIRLANE mall was its ACTS, or Automatically-Controlled Transportation System. Originally proposed as a double-tracked, 2 mile loop, the people mover was to link the Ford World Headquarters, an office complex, FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER and a new Hyatt hotel.
The system put into service in March 1976 had been scaled down to operate over a half-mile of track. Its elevated guideway connected Level 2 of the mall with the adjoining Hyatt Regency Dearborn. Serving as Ford's experiment in personal rapid transit technology, the ACTS was dismantled and removed from the premises in 1989.
In the meantime, FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER had been expanded. A 2-level (122,000 square foot) Lord & Taylor opened, in conjunction with a new store at Greater Detroit's TWELVE OAKS MALL, on March 6, 1978. A 2-level (90,000 square foot) Saks Fifth Avenue debuted on February 22, 1980. The five-anchor shopping hub now encompassed approximately 1,491,000 leasable square feet.
Changes were made to the existing cinema complex. In 1982, the Fairlane Ice Arena was retrofitted as five additional cinematic auditoriums, for a total of ten. This structure was razed in 1998 and replaced by the Loeks Star 21 Theatres, which made its debut on May 18, 2000. Today, after a couple of nameplate changes, the venue operates as the AMC Fairlane 21.
Anchor store nameplate changes began in November 1997, when Saks Fifth Avenue was demoted to a 1-level (30,000 square foot) Saks Off Fifth clearance store. Hudson's was rebranded, as a Chicago-based Marshall Field's, in August 2001 and was "Macy-ated" September 9, 2006. Lord & Taylor had pulled up stakes in August 2005. Saks Off Fifth was shuttered on December 31, 2007.
The Saks building was demolished soon after, with The Plaza -a two-tenant collection of sit-down restaurants- being built on its space. This added P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Bravo! Cucina Italiana to the mall's tenant list. Both restaurants served their first meals on November 18, 2008. The adjusted gross leasable area of FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER was now 1,426,000 leasable square feet, with 158 stores and services.
In June 2014, Taubman Centers sold FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER to Starwood Retail Partners, an affiliate of Greenwich, Connecticut's Starwood Capital Group. The transaction included seven shopping malls; these located in Michigan, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
After sitting vacant for 10 years, the Lord & Taylor building was repurposed. The Ford Motor Company acquired it and an additional 118,000 square feet of inline store space. This area was reconfigured as the company's Town Center Office complex. The 240,000 square foot facility opened in April 2017.
Sources:
The Detroit Free Press
In June 2014, Taubman Centers sold FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER to Starwood Retail Partners, an affiliate of Greenwich, Connecticut's Starwood Capital Group. The transaction included seven shopping malls; these located in Michigan, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
After sitting vacant for 10 years, the Lord & Taylor building was repurposed. The Ford Motor Company acquired it and an additional 118,000 square feet of inline store space. This area was reconfigured as the company's Town Center Office complex. The 240,000 square foot facility opened in April 2017.
Sears continued on its downward spiral by shuttering four Michigan stores. One of these was the 42-year-old FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER location, which went dark on September 2, 2018. In 2020, Starwood Retail Partners defaulted on their FAIRLANE TOWN CENTER loan. The mall was eventually acquired by a joint venture of Dallas-based Centennial and Cawley Partners and New York City-based Waterfall Asset Management. The transaction closed on May 4, 2022.
Sources:
The Detroit Free Press
http://www.shopfairlane.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.shopfairlane.com
http://www.crainsdetroit.com
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
https://media.ford.com
https://therealdeal.com / New York Real Estate News
"Fairlane Town Center" article on Wikipedia
