Officials: Eastland Mall auction in October

Eastland Mall will be up for sale at an auction next month, Harper Woods city officials said Monday.

CW Capital is auctioning off the mall on Oct. 11. through Southfield-based real estate brokerage firm Farbman Group.

The auction will include about 640,000 square feet of the mall's 1.4 million square feet of space. 

City officials said they plan to propose to whoever buys the mall, located on Eight Mile and Kelly roads, to relocate Harper Woods' city hall and police department to the site and turn it into a mixed-used development with a civic campus. 

Harper Woods' current city hall is located on Harper Avenue along Interstate 94 between Moross and Eight Mile.

“There is no greater investment the city of Harper Woods and local agencies could make than to redevelop this obsolete property in a prime market area, building in its place a new focus of civic life and community pride,” Harper Woods Mayor Ken Poynter said in a statement.

Eastland Mall opened in 1957. But after years of decline, the mall's owners entered receivership in 2015. CW Capital purchased the property the following year.

Read more: Eastland Center goes into receivership

The mall is Harper Woods' largest source of tax revenue, city officials said, and its decline has resulted in the community losing about $2 million total in property taxes since 2014.

The former locations of the Macy's department store and Target store are not up for sale as part of the auction, officials said. The existing locations for the Lowe's and Home Depot stores are not part of the sale, either, they said.

“This is an enormous opportunity for Harper Woods,” Poynter said. “There was a time when this site was the pride of Harper Woods, a destination for visitors, and a focus of community pride. We’re determined to see this vital property return to that status.”

cramirez@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @CharlesERamirez