Redevelopment, expansion adds retail space

Lawrence and Nancy Schlager, owners of Fort Gratiot-based Lawrence Jewelers, will open the Frankenmuth Jewelry Store in the soon-to-be-remodeled Frankenmuth Gallery, which the Schlagers recently purchased. An outdoor strolling park is planned as part of the remodeling effort. Lawrence Jewelers also has locations in Flushing, Sandusky, Port Huron and Wyandotte.

Work on Petoskey Point, a $6-million, block-size redevelopment project in downtown Petoskey, will begin in May with the demolition of existing structures. The multi-use project, slated for completion by mid-2008, will include condominiums (including some for rent as hotel units) along with retail, restaurant and office space.

Somerset Collection, the chic Troy mall, is launching a major expansion. Between now and Thanksgiving, 34 stores will be renovating, expanding or opening. Several of the stores are national retailers that will be new to Michigan, including The North Face, Anthropologie, Barney’s Co-Op and Stuart Weitzman.

Wonderland Mall in Livonia will be torn down, to be replaced by a Wal-Mart, a Target and Wonderland Village, the new name for a set of 40 or more smaller retailers and restaurants connected by outdoor, landscaped walkways. It’s scheduled to open late next year.

Wonderland was built as an outdoor shopping center in 1959 and redeveloped into an enclosed mall in the 1980s. The mall closed in 2003.

Warren-based Art Van Furniture has expanded the company’s marketing team by hiring Chris Morrisroe as director of communications, Debbie Colon as manager of special events and John Rastelli as corporate communications manager. In addition, David Horvath joined the buying staff at Art Van’s corporate office.

Fairlane Town Center’s Lord & Taylor department store will close its doors in July or early August. Its replacement at the mall hasn’t been determined, according to the mall’s general manager.

The Fairlane store, which employs 131 people, is one of five Lord & Taylor locations in the nation to be shuttered by owner Federated Department Stores, which acquired the chain as part of its purchase of the May Department Stores Co.

Meijer will sell the plant-based ethanol fuel known as E85, designed for flex-fuel vehicles made by General Motors and other automakers, at 20 Meijer stations in eight markets—Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Warren, Pontiac, Detroit, Rochester and Brighton. The exact opening date of the first E85 pump at Meijer has not been set.

The plan was announced in a joint press conference with GM and CleanFuel USA, suppliers of E85. The fuel, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is expected to cost about as much as 87-octane gasoline initially.