NEWSPAPERS n o i t i d E l a i c e Sp
JULY 24, 2024 candgnews.com
Macomb County and Grosse Pointe papers
Signs announce the future Lakeside Town Center project as lasttime shoppers took one more look at the closing mall June 27. Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
LAST LOOKS AT LAKESIDE MALL WALKERS, BUSINESS OWNERS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ABOUT CLOSING BY ERIC CZARNIK eczarnik@candgnews.com
STERLING HEIGHTS — Like dozens of other people walking through Lakeside Mall June 27 – the Thursday before its last open day of June 30 and its July 1 closing date – Frank Talo was reliving his memories of growing up with the shopping center. “The early ’80s, I spent a lot of time here – spent all my allowance and my grass-cutting money on the arcades, back-to-school shopping,” said Talo, who lives in the St. Clair Shores area. “It’s a pretty big part of my childhood. … It’s kind of sad, you know, but it seems like online shopping … and I heard the pandemic was kind of the final nail in the coffin with a lot of malls, not just Lakeside.” Talo blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the popularity of online shopping for the mall’s decline and ultimate demise.
A mall in metamorphosis
Lakeside Mall originally opened in 1976, notably through the efforts of mall developer A. Alfred Taubman. But for years over the last decade, Sterling Heights officials have envisioned and have prepared for a future redevelopment of the Lakeside Mall area. The mall’s most recent ownership, Lionheart Capital/Out of the Box Ventures, acquired the mall property in 2019. In November 2022, it presented to the Sterling Heights City Council a vision for a mixed-use Lakeside Town Center. In the mall’s place, the town center is envisioned as a billiondollar project on an estimated 110 acres of mixeduse neighborhoods, apartments, retail shops, office space, green space, a hotel, a community center and more. That presentation originally predicted the demolition of the main mall building for sometime See LAKESIDE on page 6A
The first 200 Lee’s customers in line July 11 received a free meal, courtesy of the eatery. Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken redevelops former Dooley’s site BY MARIA ALLARD allard@candgnews.com
ROSEVILLE — There is a new franchise in town, one that redeveloped a vacant building, and it promises to satisfy your appetite. On July 11, the Eastpointe-Roseville Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the grand opening of Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken in Roseville. Located at 32500 Gratiot Ave., across the street from Macomb Mall, the new eatery opened at the site of the former Dooley’s Tavern, which ceased operations after two fatal shootings in the bar in 2019 and 2022. City administrators are pleased to see a new business on Gratiot Avenue. “We are excited to welcome Lee’s Famous Chicken to Roseville,” Roseville City Manager Ryan Monroe said via email. “They have redeveloped that vacant building into a beautiful multi-unit property. We are grateful to them and so many other businesses that are selecting Roseville for investments.” See LEE’S on page 8A