Work will start this spring on turning a roughly 20,000-square-foot former Borders bookstore in Grosse Pointe into a medical office and retail spaces.
The St. John Health System medical office will occupy one end of a nearly block-long building that's been vacant for many months since Ace Hardware, next door to the already-closed Borders, relocated to Mack Avenue.
The other end of the building, which fronts Kercheval Avenue in Grosse Pointe's Village business district, is likely to be occupied by a Calico Corners fabric and home store, if city approvals go through.
In the nearly three years since Borders closed and the year since Ace left, the property manager has said other retailers, including another hardware store and a national chain, would move in. That never materialized.
The big empty building became a further headache when city officials and St. John reps couldn't agree on re-development plans. In the end, St. John agreed to build medical offices on the back side of the building, which is connected to a city parking lot, and to rent space to three or four retailers on the front side of the building on Kercheval.
Peter Dame, Grosse Pointe city manager, says no retailers for the St. John's space have been named, but the proposed Calico Corners at the opposite end of the building would fill about 3,000 square feet. The rest of the space between the closed Ace and Borders will be divided into multiple retail outlets. He says that work will begin soon.
The St. John medical and retail project should be completed this summer, Dame says.
Source: Peter Dame, Grosse Pointe city manager
Writer: Kim North Shine
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