The Lakes Mall is an enclosed shopping mall serving the city of Muskegon, Michigan, United States. Opened in 2001, the mall features more than sixty retailers, plus a food court, in 645,677 square feet (59,985.4 m2) of gross leasable area. Anchor stores comprise Bed Bath & Beyond, Dick’s Sporting Goods, JCPenney, Sears and Younkers. The Lakes Mall is owned and managed by CBL & Associates Properties.
The Lakes Mall was developed by CBL & Associates Properties of Chattanooga, Tennessee, on a site south of town, near the junction of Interstate 96 and US-31, at the southeastern corner of Sternberg Road and Harvey Street. Construction began on the property in late 1999. On August 15, 2001, the mall’s grand opening was announced, although Sears had been operational since March of that year. The mall, upon opening, featured Bed Bath & Beyond, JCPenney, Sears and Younkers among its anchor stores. JCPenney had located from a standalone store, while Sears had relocated from the former Muskegon Mall downtown. Dick’s Sporting Goods was added in late 2004.
Impact on the community
Prior to the development of the mall, the only major business that operated at the intersection of Sternberg Road and Harvey Street was a strip mall known as the Lakeshore Marketplace. This center, a former outlet mall, was eventually redeveloped into big box space (including Toys “R” Us, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, TJ Maxx and Elder-Beerman, which was converted to a Younkers furniture store in 2008), and several restaurants soon opened along The Lakes Mall’s periphery. Menards, Kohl’s, Circuit City and Best Buy opened on the southwest corner, and Meijer on the northeastern corner.
Muskegon Mall, an older mall created by enclosing several blocks of Muskegon’s downtown, had operated in downtown Muskegon since 1976. However, it was not considered a major retail draw for the Muskegon area, because it lacked the major chain stores present at the malls in Grand Rapids. In addition, the Muskegon Mall lost two of its three anchor stores (Hardy’s and Steketee’s) in the 1990s. Since its opening in 2001, The Lakes Mall has been cited as the most popular retail destination in the Muskegon area, and the former Muskegon Mall has been demolished for a redevelopment of downtown.
