FEATURE ARTICLE, DECEMBER 2009

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT:SOMERSET COLLECTION SHINES BRIGHT
Michigan’s famous mall is keeping up with the times with evolution and expansion.
Amy Bigley

Somerset Collection

Flanking West Big Beaver Road in Troy, Michigan, the Somerset Collection has undergone much evolution and expansion since its beginnings as a 35-store mall in 1969. The mall was originally owned and operated by the Sam Franco Family until the late 1980s when The Forbes Company bought a 50 percent ownership position and became the developing and managing partner of the asset, which included the original existing shopping center and a 36-acre vacant land parcel across Big Beaver Road.

The partnership spurred Somerset’s redevelopment and repositioning that has created today’s 1.44 million-square-foot regional mall, which includes the 500,000-square-foot Somerset Collection South and the 940,000-square-foot Somerset Collection North. By 1992, after extensive renovations during which the mall remained operational and open to customers, the ownership opened a new two-level shopping center with tenants such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. In 1994, the company linked the existing mall to a new three-level mall, featuring department stores Nordstrom and Macys, located across Big Beaver Road with a 700-foot, climate-controlled skywalk. Designed by Farmington Hills, Michigan-based JPRA Architects/Peterhansrea Design, the center features an exterior of Cranbrook brick and Mankato stone with interior finishes of marble, select woods, a continuous skylight, fountains, stages for performing arts and numerous original sculptures.

“Both properties were almost the same size, about 36 acres, and the skywalk came in at the midpoint of each center, which was very important for circulation purposes,” explains Nathan Forbes, managing partner of Southfield, Michigan-based The Forbes Company. “With the midpoint skywalk, we’re picking up our customer at the 50-yard line and dropping them off at the 50-yard line of the other property.”

The collection boosts an exclusive tenant roster, which offers high-end retail and dining options for the metropolitan Detroit area. Specialty retail stores, many of which were new to the market, include Barneys New York Co-Op, BCBG, Burberry, Cole Haan, Crate & Barrel, Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon, Ferragamo, Gucci, Henri Bendel, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Anne Fontaine, Herve Leger and Max Mara. The collection also features four department stores — a 300,000-square-foot Macy’s, a 141,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus, a 240,000-square-foot Nordstrom and a 160,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue. In addition to retail offerings, the Somerset Collection features The Capital Grille, J. Alexander’s, California Pizza Kitchen, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Brio Tuscan Grille and the Café at Neiman Marcus, among others.

The collection strives to provide an environment where residents want to be, whether it’s for shopping, dining, entertainment or simply gathering. Forbes notes that since 1996, the area has really embraced Somerset Collection making it a major social aspect of the community and weaving it into the fabric of Oakland County and Southeast Michigan. One way the center stays involved with the community is through its annual Somerset Home, a show home that is built by local builders and contractors and decorated with products from retail tenants at Somerset.

With no central shopping district in downtown Detroit, Somerset Collection quickly became the shopping destination for the city and southeast Michigan. The center continues to rank high by focusing on offering the best in class in all its retail categories from home goods to women’s apparel, shoes and handbags to restaurants.

“[The development] was really to try to deepen the merchandise offerings for southeast Michigan, Detroit and metro Detroit,” says Forbes. “Oakland County is a wealthy county but was devoid of better retail. We’re trying to build on bringing better retail and creating a downtown of sorts in the suburbs.”

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