The City of Manitowoc purchased the vacant Mid Cities Mall and Lakeshore Mall sites to prep it for future redevelopment. PC: Fox 11 Online
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It was once a popular shopping center and meeting place for community members in Manitowoc and Twin Rivers. But for the last several years, the Mid Cities Mall site has sat empty.
Since the turn of the century, malls across the United States have seen a drop in popularity. That story resonates in Manitowoc.
“Of course, this was the place to be just like malls of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, but when the interstate moved it was built in Manitowoc on the other side of the city, and things started drifting over there, malls started declining all over and we were no different,” says Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels.
It was in the early 2000s, that stores at the Mid Cities and Lakeshore Malls started leaving.
Around 2010, JCPenney left Mid Cities, and a few years later the mall was demolished. When Younkers left in 2018, it was the nail in the coffin at Lakeshore Mall, too.
For years, the vacant lot where Mid Cities once stood, and the vacant Lakeshore Edgewater property have sat.
“This has been an eyesore and ugly,” Mayor Nickels says. “Especially for people who live up in that side of the city, it’s been an ugly eyesore for way too long. We weren’t getting anywhere with the previous owner unfortunately and we just stepped in.”
Nickels says change is on the horizon.
The city bought the two former mall properties and in the next few weeks, the remaining mall will be torn down and the massive concrete lot will be torn up. The plots of land will be re-seeded; primed up for redevelopment.
“That was the place to be for generations of people but we can appreciate what was there but really what’s next is the fun part.”
Nickels says the timing is perfect, as that side of the city is once again thriving.
“40-plus new single-family homes just down the block, Bay Care and housing/apartment complexes going up down the street all brand new, so you’re going to see literally hundreds of new people moving into this area again, so I think this is a great piece of property, I’m excited for what will be there.”
Right now, it’s still not clear what will replace the nearly 60-year-old mall site, but with nearly 36 acres of land, there’s no shortage of ideas.
“I’d like to see them bring in like a water park like they got in Dells,” says Townsend. “That would bring in a lot of outside business for tourism and the hotels that go with it, it would create a lot of jobs and revenue for the city.”
“I’d like to see a Kwik Trip developed here, a playground, a dog run, something for people to use instead of just an empty parking lot,” says Daniel Koppa, who has lived across the street from the mall site for six years.
Mayor Nickels says ideally housing and commercial would fill the space.
“We only have one restaurant really on that side of the city. . . something to bring people to that side of town.”
Conversations with potential developers have already started, too.
Nickels says whatever comes next will be far better than what’s there now.
“To be able to utilize that site for connecting the two cities, connecting the lake and the natural beauty around it, I think there’s a lot of possibilities.”
The mayor adds that the purchase and development of the property is a win-win for taxpayers.
“We did buy the property so we got a short-term loan through our utility, the city owns the utility, so we can get the TIF district created, get development happening and new tax space happening to pay off what we put in it,” Nickels says.
“So really the general taxpayer won’t pay for this property, the new taxes generated from the TIF will, which is kind of unique and neat that we are able to have the utility come in and help us from the beginning so the city doesn’t take a hit, the taxpayers or the ratepayers won’t take a hit. We’ll be able to pay back the utility in full with the new taxes generated.
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