How a Blight Vote Is Paying to Take Down the Westwood Mall

The Westwood Mall has been closed since its roof gave way under snow last February. In September, Marquette Township declared the property "blighted" under Michigan's brownfield law. That designation lets a buyer cover the roughly $1 million cost of tearing down 112,000 square feet of empty retail with the property's own future tax revenue. A Green Bay developer has an agreement to buy the site, and the first public look at his layout is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28.

For anyone who drives US-41 West past 3020 several times a week, that changes what the empty building means. The sequence explains it.

Eight months, from snowpack to site plan

Northern News Now reported that the owner of The Bargain Barn expected the store to be a complete loss. By April, WLUC reported that The Bargain Barn and Halloween Superstore were the two businesses hit directly. Level Up Arcade, Bath & Body Works and Maurices were among the tenants shut behind closed doors.

How a blight designation becomes a financing tool

Michigan's Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act, Public Act 381 of 1996, lets local governments use tax increment financing on eligible properties. Blighted property is one of the categories that qualifies. The township's resolution quotes the act's definition of blight, which includes a property that is a fire hazard, presents safety risks, has its utilities permanently disconnected, or "otherwise is unfit for use as intended." The board found that the mall met one or more of those conditions. Township Manager Jon Kangas told My U-P News the property is blighted "in its current form," and he called demolition "critical to any reuse of that property."

The resolution names the two parcels involved, 52-08-450-008-00 and 52-08-450-008-30, owned by Westwood Mall Realty Holding LLC. It also says the designation exists only to support the brownfield process and "does not constitute a change in zoning or land use designation." You can read the full resolution and both roll-call votes in the township's September 16 board packet.

Once the property is designated, the money works like this:

1. The developer pays to demolish the old building up front.
2. New construction raises the property's taxable value.
3. Part of the new tax revenue goes back to the developer to repay eligible demolition costs, up to $1.047 million under the current plan, according to WLUC.

Jackie Solomon, director of the Marquette County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, explained the reason for the incentive to WLUC. "A blighted structure is very costly to remove," she said. "If you're considering someone coming here to invest, they can build on vacant land and they don't have that expense. So this is an incentive for him to develop this property specifically and to help with that blight."

The township could have taken a different path. Kangas told My U-P News that the assessor could have declared the property functionally obsolete on her own:

"We chose to go the township board route because that's seven members that answer directly to the taxpayers, so it's a much more transparent process."

Kangas also said the board approved the plan knowing the financing runs for a longer period than usual. If the site builds out as proposed, he said, "the TIF will be significantly shortened by the final buildup of it." The faster the new buildings fill in, the sooner the reimbursement ends and the full tax value goes to the community.

Who is buying, and what he says he'll build

The buyer is Garritt Bader, whose Green Bay firm, GB Real Estate Investments, previously redeveloped the East Town Mall in Green Bay. "We have an agreement in place to purchase the former Westwood Mall and are eagerly moving forward with redevelopment plans," Bader said in an email to WLUC. He told the township board, "We will make this better."

WLUC reported a total investment of $5 million. Phase one, as described so far, includes:

• Demolition of the 112,000-square-foot mall building by the end of 2026
• A first 25,000-square-foot commercial building by the end of 2027, placed between Dunham's Sports and Kohl's
• A national retailer as the first occupant, which township planner Jason McCarthy confirmed but declined to name

Phase two would be housing. According to Mining Journal reporting republished by The Daily News, McCarthy said Bader is looking at six to seven apartment buildings on land northwest of the mall, with 180 to 210 one- and two-bedroom units in total. Kangas described the housing as "a significant need throughout the county and the U.P." The apartments are still a proposal. The township's September votes approved the blight designation and the brownfield plan, not a housing development.

What stays standing, and why

Not everything at 3020 US-41 West is coming down. Kohl's, Dunham's Sports and North Iron Church are on separately owned property, so the blight declaration and the demolition don't apply to them.

That ownership split goes back to the mall's beginnings. As Doug Garrison recounted in a March column for WOTS Marquette, the Westwood Mall opened in 1974 as a strip of shops between Kmart and Prange's. Kohl's now occupies the Kmart space, and Dunham's took over the Prange's space after it served as Younkers. A 1989 expansion added JC Penney as a third anchor, and at its peak the mall had as many as 40 stores. The anchor buildings were always the most independent part of the property. The enclosed hallway connecting them is what's going away.

The former JC Penney space is now NORTHIRON Church's Marquette campus. The church's campus page says it has been remodeling the building with the goal of holding services there in 2026. Until the Marquette campus officially opens, Sunday services are at its Ishpeming campus at 9 and 10:30 a.m.

At least one displaced tenant has already found a temporary home for this season. Halloween Superstore, whose mall storefront became inaccessible after the collapse, reopened on Third Street across from Togo's, WLUC reported. It is open noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, through Nov. 1.

October 28: the first look at the layout

Until now, everything public about the redevelopment has come from financing votes and interviews. The site plan will be the first document that shows the details drivers will actually notice: where the entrances are, how the new building faces US-41, and where the landscaping goes. Jason McCarthy, Marquette Township's planning and zoning administrator, told WLUC that the plan will give the Planning Commission "a better idea of the layout, access, landscaping, and building design." He gave a target review date of Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. at Marquette Township Town Hall.

The township's calendar lists a Planning Commission meeting for that evening. Before you go, check the meeting listing for the posted agenda to confirm the Westwood site is on it.

Kangas told My U-P News that the property is "high visibility, high tax revenue generating." That visibility will matter quickly. If demolition stays on schedule, the building comes down before the end of 2026, while the snow that brought the roof down is back on the ground. The developer's plan calls for building the first new commercial building on the same parcel by the end of 2027.

A change this size on US-41 affects the whole Marquette Township corridor, from where people shop to what nearby property owners can expect next. If you want to talk through how the Westwood redevelopment fits with what's happening on your street, Team Erin Wasik is following every step and is glad to share what we're seeing. Start Your Search with us whenever you're ready.