A new owner acquire the moribund Marquette Mall and Office Tower in Michigan City, raising hopes the long-vacant enclosed mall will be redeveloped.
Michigan City-based Tonn and Blank Construction, a 103-year-old construction firm that's owned by Franciscan Health and does projects across the state, bought the mall at 226 U.S. 20 that's been closed since 2017.
Tonn and Blank Marketing Manager Cassie Carlson said the construction firm would soon issue a press release "to let the public know what's going on."
Economic Development Corp. Michigan City Executive Director Clarence Hulse said the company would soon release its development plans for the site.
"Whatever they do will be fantastic for the community," he said. "We will be pleased. They have done some great developments across the state in Northwest Indiana, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne."
Tonn and Blank built the gleaming new 440,000-square-foot, 123-bed Franciscan Health Hospital just off Interstate 94 in Michigan City.
"That was a major economic development that brought over $300 million to the city," Hulse said.
It's also built YMCAs in Crown Point, Hammond, Valparaiso and other Northwest Indiana communities, Hulse said. Other major projects include the Ameristar Hotel in East Chicago, a Valparaiso University gym and Bishop D'Arcy Stadium in Fort Wayne.
"They've done some large and fantastic new developments, as well as industrial buildings," Hulse said.
Economic Development Corp. Michigan City has been promoting the Marquette Mall site for a mixed-used redevelopment. Hulse said the hope was that it would include some medical use, such as physicians' offices, given Tonn and Blank's connection to Franciscan.
A Franciscan spokesperson declined to comment.
The mall is owned by Moshe Shemian of California, who bought out his other partners last year.
It still functions as a strip mall with tenants like Planet Fitness, Sake Asian Fusion and the LaPorte County Convention and Visitors Bureau occupying storefronts along Franklin Street. Walgreens, Buffalo Wild Wings and Diva Nail Salon also occupy outlots at the busy intersection of U.S. 20 and Franklin Street.
The mall opened in 1967 and was one of the first air-conditioned malls in the state. It was anchored by Sears, Carson's and JCPenney. The interior of the mall shuttered in 2017.
Joe Exotic from the Netflix hit series "Tiger King" brought his traveling tiger show there long before he became famous.
The mall slowly declined over the years, losing business to the nearby Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets, which offered outlet mall discounts and was perceived to have higher-end retailers. After becoming largely vacant and featured on sites like DeadMall.com for its abundant liminal space, Marquette Mall ended up shuttering the interior eight years ago after its main anchors started closing, due to national bankruptcies in the case of Sears and Carson's.
The city had been looking at repurposing it to include more entertainment options, like go-karts and rock climbing, as brick-and-mortar has struggled after losing market share to online retailers.
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