Mall plans please township

An article about the Festivals of Waterford plan that would renovate Summit Place Mall in Waterford, Michigan. This obviously never happened.

2002-12-11
Mall plans please township
Michael Hoskins

The owner of Waterford's destination shopping center at Telegraph and Elizabeth Lake roads has gotten a thumbs-up from the township's Planning Commission on conceptual site plans for an indoor water park, the first step needed before that aspect of the renovation project can begin.

The mall is now referred to as Festivals of Waterford, after scrapping the name Summit Place. Mall owner Rich Marr introduced his first set of conceptual drawings for the water park to the nine-member commission on Tuesday, Nov. 26, and the commission members voiced their approval. The commission was expected to vote in favor of the plans during a meeting held yesterday, Tuesday, Dec. 10.

The 70,000-square-foot water park - one of five "festivals" being created at the mall - would fill the vacated Montgomery Ward space with a wave pool, six slides reaching as high as 65 feet, a lazy river for inner-tubing, and multiple water-themed play areas and pools for children.

According to estimates from Marr, the cost of the water park would be $20 million - money which owners have asked the township to provide in exchange for ownership of the indoor water park facility (see related story).

One aspect mall owners must deal with in completing the water park includes going before township officials, who regulate planning and zoning requirements inside the facility. The Planning Commission unanimously approved a resolution at its Tuesday, Nov. 26 meeting to not oppose the plans at this initial stage.

"It makes sense for us not to oppose this site plan at this phase," said Planning Commission Chairwoman Sandra Werth during the Nov. 26 session. "It's our opinion that this is vitally important to the township, and it looks impressive."

Township Planning Director Larry Lockwood said fire department personnel has reviewed the site plans and don't foresee any problems, and that township officials will continue working with the new mall owner throughout the entire planning process.

Mall general manager Joe Tyree and Marr will submit a rezoning request in January to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), seeking a change involving the height of a water tower. Currently, the maximum height allowed under existing ordinances would be 40 feet. Since the tower itself will stretch to 100 feet and include water slides of up to 65 feet and the roofline would have to accommodate those heights, zoning changes must be made in order for the plan to be achieved.

"This new roofline is quite dominant, and will make quite a statement," Lockwood said. "The planning staff and township engineers have been pleased with the plans submitted so far."

Hoping to revive the mall's slumping image, lure families back and fill the facility's vacant storefronts, Marr and Tyree first unveiled their vision to township officials on Nov. 12 and 13. Along with the indoor water park, the $60-million renovation project would involve a series of other "festivals" inside the mall, including a 60,000-square-foot family entertainment and amusement center, a boardwalk, a children's play area and a trolley to transport shoppers from one side of the mall to the other.

"We need to make this a destination spot for families," mall owner Marr said. "So maybe we shouldn't be a Summit, maybe we should be something else that helps us move more toward the entertainment aspect and draw people in from outside the (immediate) area. The goal is to attract a diversity of people and products, and that's why we're focusing on families."

The first aspect of the plan - the children's play center - opened up to the public for the first time two days after Thanksgiving, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The play center now stands in the heart of the mall, where a cafe once stood.

As the hub of the 1.3 million square-foot shopping center, the $500,000 play center encompasses a 5,600 square-foot area. Designed by Canada-based DeltaPlay Company, the three-level fortress of fun for kids features 47 interactive play features, including multiple games and toys, twisting tubes and tunnels, snaking slides, colored climbing apparatus, ball fountains and miniature automobiles that children can race up to 2.5 miles an hour around the bordering race track. He said it supports a maximum of about 200 children.

Another part of the plan calls for a family entertainment and amusement center, which would be built along the Sears wing after the few existing retail shops are moved. This 60,000 square-foot facility would include theme rides, ticket games, skeet ball, bumper cars and other features.

"There's a great market in 2- to 14-year-olds, who have to bring those people called parents and grandparents along with them," Marr said. "This plan provides options for everyone, and offers things that appeal to each particular age."

Marr said he is hoping to have construction on the entertainment and amusement center mostly - if not all - completed within a year.

On the outside of the mall, Marr said, plans include enhancing the building's facade with larger entries, glass lighting panels to accommodate changing seasons, and landscape and lighting improvements outside and in the parking lots.

Managers told the Waterford Township Board of Trustees recently that more than an estimated $40 million would have to be spent on redeveloping the exterior of the property.

Marr said he hopes to attract more restaurants and anchor stores into a 10,000- to 40,000-square-foot area, possibly a Borders or Barnes and Noble-type establishment, as the project progresses.

The closed, free-standing cinema complex at the site will most likely be torn down this winter. Marr said he does not expect to add cinemas to the project because there is not enough demand in the local market. The Montgomery Ward automotive center will also be leased out.

Opening as the Pontiac Mall in 1962, the facility was one of the first enclosed shopping centers in the country. After several expansions in 1983, the mall was renamed Summit Place to appeal to a wider customer base in rapidly-growing Oakland County. Northwestern Mutual acquired Summit Place in December 2000 from the prior owners, Summit Mall LLC, and Marr's Namco announced its finalized purchase last April.