The shops at Park Plaza/Plaza at Lincoln Park

The Shops at Park Plaza or The Plaza at Lincoln Park...So...which name is the correct one? Is it the one on the Marquee to the right? It could also be the one on the banner sign that welcomes you as you drive in, pictured below. Whatever...lol I cannot even describe the untapped potential of this shopping center, which is one the most unique I have ever seen. Its in Lincoln Park off Fort Street with Emmons st. running down the middle of it. There is also access from Dix/Toledo rd; via Emmons, which is a resdential street...yes..it has a residential street running right down the middle of it.

I still havent figured out if thats a good thing or not, but anyway. The basic concept and design is pretty neat. There are a few problems though. Considering how large it looks, it actually a quite small strip mall. I you were to drive by it you would think it has more stores that are maybe hidden inside, but no...It only has 2 empty spaces; a former Farmer Jack and a carpet place, but whats left isnt enough variety to attract more shoppers. I doesn't help that the empty Farmer Jack is the largest space in the center..Even larger than the Jc Penny...The Farmer Jack space begs to be a 2 story Barnes and Nobel or Borders if you ask me. They could line the backside of the center with more stores giving the center a better mix. This of course is what I would do in a better economy though. Its too cool of a shopping center to let it go to such waste IMO. If I had the money I would snatch this place up and turn it for sure. Below are a few more pics. I'm sure you'll agree that it has a lot of unused potential.

More pics will be uploaded in the next few days...

The Curse of Dix/Toledo Rd.

Dix Rd actually goes by many names as it makes its way from southwest Detroit to Woodhaven, Michigan. In detroit proper, Vernor HWY turns into Dix as it travels south through Lincoln Park and Melvindale. It eventualy turns into Toledo Rd in Southgate (The city in which this bolgs strip mall is in) and then finally merges into Telegraph Rd in Woodhaven where it dissappears all together.

One thing is for certian in my travels and thats Dix sucks for businesses. Dix has a mix of national chain retail, really run down mom and pop-businesses, and then you have nearly empty strip malls like the Lincoln Park Shopping center. In this case though, despite what the sign above may read. This power center strip mall is completely empty. Yep. Completely.

This Huge Strip at the corner or Eureka and Dix/Toledo once housed many thriving buinesses such as a Best Buy, Lone Star Steakhouse, a Home Quarters (think Home Depot or Lowes), and many other smaller stores. The nail in the coffin came early for this center as Home Quarters (the entire company) went out of business it seems like right after they opened. They closed all the stores that the opened and left huge empty hulks all over the Detroit area. This occured more than 10 years ago and some buildings like this one are still empty. The smaller stores began to wither soon after. The next major blow happend when Lone Star closed most of their locations in Michgan a few years back. This one was of course one of the ones that closed. The most recent tenant to vacate was the Best Buy (pictured above). The store went to greener pastures in the nearby Southland Mall in Taylor in 2006 where a new state-of-the art store replaced the malls food court (lol). By then there were only one of two small strip stores opened and those have since closed as well.

Now, as it sits today, a monument to corporate mismanagement and the hard times that the Detroit area finds itself in.

Empty, empty, empty.

Ohhhh, wait....a diamond broker?...ohh nevermind, they forgot to take the sign down I guess.

You can see the vastness of thins empty center pictured here. The now empty Lone Star Sits in the Middle.

Don't get your hopes up, they just left their sign up, too.

Below are pictures of the massive derelict HQ. Its one of biggest I have seen as it took me three pics to fit it in.

Lincoln Park Shopping Center; Lincoln Park Michigan

20 years ago, Lincoln Park was a prosperous suburb just south of Detroit proper. Things have changed however, as people move to the newer southern Detroit burbs, such as Brownstown and Carleton. Being directly south of one of Detroits most poor neighboorhoods doesn't help matters much. Crime has spread into LP as a result and it shows through at the Lincoln Park Shopping Center.

At the busy corner of Southfeild Rd and Dix, LPSC was a prime location for such a center when it was built. LPSC is anchored by a Sears and at one time an F&M drug store and a Old Navy. 25 Smaller spaces rounded out the rest of the center. In its prime, all the spaces were of course leased. Today, things aren't so grand. F&M went out of business in the mid 90's leaving all of their locations vacant, including the one in LPSC. The Closing of F&M wasn't the nail in the coffin, however. The Star movie theater then closed in the late 90's due to the remodeled Southgate Cinema and the new Star 21 screen megaplex in Fairlane Town Center. Harmony House also went out of business and by this time, LPSC was heading into a state of disrepair with peeling paint, falling plaster, and half painted over graffitti.

The real nail in the coffin was really the opening of the Fairlane Green shopping center in nearby Allen Park where Old Navy, Dunhams, and Dress Barn relocated. A lot of the remaining customer base followed. LPSC continued to be poorly maintained and dirty. Then it was announced that most of LPSC would be sold and torn down to build a new Walmart Supercenter but even before these developments, it seems as though LPSC was just given up on. President tux, Complete rehab, KB Toyworks, Hallmark, and many of the other smaller stores closed from low sales and/or fearing the Walmart would steal what little sales they still had. Most of the remaining stores are planning to weather the storm and attempt to coexist with the Walmart when it is opened. The Walmart won't be even started for a year and a half though; and LPSC quite frankly, looks like shit lol. It would be nice if something was done to spruce it up, but that probably won't happen.

Former Old Navy

Former Dress Barn

Most of these stores are staying

Broken window

I have noticed that its a PITA to post photos on the actual page, so I have been forced to add a link to my photobucket. Perhaps someone can help me with posting photos?

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v339/ericexp/lpsc/