What’s happening: It’s official. After nearly 50 years, Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights is scheduled to close on Monday, July 1. Its subsequent demolition will make way for a major development that will reimagine the 110-acre site as a new city center for Sterling Heights.

What’s planned: Rising from the rubble of Lakeside Mall will be Lakeside Town Center, a $1 billion mixed-use development from Miami-based Lionheart Capital and its subsidiary Out of the Box Ventures.

"Lakeside Mall's closure marks the beginning of an exciting transformation," reads a statement from Allison Greenfield, principal and Chief Development Officer of Lionheart Capital. "We are committed to collaborating with the City of Sterling Heights to create an urban center that celebrates the area's character and history." 

Following the mall’s closure and demolition, it’s expected that construction will break ground in 2025 and wrap in 2035.

What it does: The development will turn the 20th century shopping mall inside out, so to speak, creating a city center that’s more in line with traditional downtown infrastructure (and 21st century trends): walkable city streets with parks and amenities, and mixed-use buildings filled with shops and residential units. It’s an especially remarkable opportunity for a community like Sterling Heights, which lacks that traditional downtown infrastructure and “Main Street” it now looks to build.

What’s next: Following the mall’s closure and demolition, it’s expected that construction will break ground in 2025 and be completed approximately 10 years following that. There’s a reason it will take a decade to build, as the site will be completely reimagined with multi-family housing, senior housing, community center, commercial space, public parks, and more, and all along a newly built grid more in scale with traditional downtowns. A 1.5 non-motorized pathway will circle the site and connect to Sterling Heights’ ever-expanding network of trails.

Lakeside Mall is located at 14000 Lakeside Circle in Sterling Heights.

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