TWELVE OAKS MALL
12 Mile and Novi Roads
Novi ["no-viy"], Michigan
The twenty-first shopping mall in Greater Detroit was built by a joint venture of the Taubman Company, Homart Development and Dayton Hudson Corporation. Previous attempts by Taubman to construct a superregional shopping center in Bloomfield Township and in the city of Farmington had failed. Taubman's third attempt was a success. A 167.7-acre site, located 28 miles northwest of downtown Detroit, had been acquired by the J.L. Hudson Company in 1967. It would be developed as TWELVE OAKS MALL.
A dual-level, fully enclosed structure of 1,245,000 leasable square feet was designed by Los Angeles' Victor Gruen Associates and Richard Prince (Victor Gruen had retired from the Gruen Associates firm in 1967 and did not participate in the design of the TWELVE OAKS project). The mall-to-be would be anchored by a 3-level (240,000 square foot), Detroit-based J.L. Hudson, 2-level (207,000 square foot) Sears, 2-level (122,000 square foot) Lord & Taylor and 2-level (156,000 square foot) J.C. Penney.
The first sixty stores, including Hudson's, opened August 3, 1977. The Novi High School Summer Band provided music for the grand opening ceremony. Sears was dedicated October 1, 1977. The United Artists The Movies At Twelve Oaks Mall theater, a 5-screen multiplex, showed its first features on December 15. Lord & Taylor made its TWELVE OAKS MALL debut on March 6, 1978. J.C. Penney, the final charter anchor store, welcomed its first shoppers on May 3rd of the same year.
The interior of the original mall was landscaped with twenty-two Ficus trees. Each of its five court areas featured a large sculpture. In the Hudson's court was "Pumping for Sedgewick," by Chicago's Paul Slepak. "Arch of Prometheus," by Chicago's Barry Tinsley, was the focal point of the Lord & Taylor Court.
Major shopping venues in the vicinity of TWELVE OAKS MALL included PONTIAC MALL / SUMMIT PLACE (1962) {12.2 miles northeast, in Oakland County}, LIVONIA MALL (1964-2009) {7.6 miles southeast, in Livonia}, TEL-TWELVE MALL (1968-2000) {9.3 miles east, in Southfield} and LAUREL PARK PLACE MALL (1989) {5.7 miles southeast, also in Livonia}.
A face lift renovation was performed at TWELVE OAKS MALL between 1996 and 1997. The interior was revamped, with sculptures and trees being removed. New entrances were also built, a new elevator installed in Central Court and the original terrazzo floors covered with tile. Year-round valet parking was also instituted, as the mall was being repositioned as a more upscale shopping venue.
In August 2001, the Hudson's store was rebranded a Chicago-based Marshall Field's. The cinema was gutted and replaced with the 11-bay Lifestyle Cafe Food Court in 2002. A potential commercial competitor also appeared in 2002. FOUNTAIN WALK {.5 of a mile west, in Novi} was an open-air, lifestyle complex. It was renamed TWELVE MILE CROSSING AT FOUNTAIN WALK in 2008.
Meanwhile, in 2005, Taubman Centers announced plans for a major expansion at TWELVE OAKS MALL. This 63 million dollar renovation was to add a new Southeast Wing, which would be anchored by a 2-level (165,000 square foot) Nordstrom. Marshall Field's would also be expanded.
Construction got underway in February 2006. Marshall Field's was rebranded as a Macy's on September 9, 2006. The store was enlarged by 60,000 square feet, bringing its area up to 300,000 square feet. Macy's, Nordstrom -and forty new inline stores- were dedicated on September 28, 2007. With these additions, the mall, now known as simply TWELVE OAKS, encompassed approximately 1,571,000 leasable square feet and housed over 180 stores and services under its roof.
Sears, a charter TWELVE OAKS anchor, pulled up stakes in March 2019. In December 2020, the mall's proprietor, Taubman Centers, merged with the Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group. At the same time, TWELVE OAKS lost another of its five anchors. Lord & Taylor, a tenant since 1983, went dark as part of the shuttering of the entire retail chain.
Sources:
The South Lyon Herald
http://www.shoptwelveoaks.com
www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
http://vmsd.com/content/expansion-twelve-oaks
http://www.7ware.com
http://stage.investorroom.com/taubman/index.php?s=43&item=56
http://investors.thecheesecakefactory.com
"Twelve Oaks Mall" article on Wikipedia
