History
In 1967, Saks Fifth Avenue opened a stand-alone store on Big Beaver Road in the Detroit suburb of Troy. In 1969, a one floor upscale "Somerset Mall" designed by Louis G. Redstone Associates would be built onto the existing Saks, anchored by it and a new Bonwit Teller. Bonwit significantly renovated its store in 1988, only to close in 1990 after the chain went bankrupt. In 1991-1992 the center was renamed Somerset Collection, a second level was added, and Neiman Marcus opened a store on the site of the razed Bonwit Teller. Completed in August 1992, Tiffany's joined at this time as well.
Following the success of the revamped mall, co-owners Forbes/Cohen Properties and Frankel Associates opened an all new three-story $200 million 940,000 sq ft (87,300 m2) expansion across Big Beaver Road in 1996, designed by JPRA Architects. Michigan's first Nordstrom and a Hudson's (now Macy's) anchored the new three-story expansion, named Somerset North. Joining the two malls is a 700-foot (210 m) enclosed bridge with a moving "Skywalk" over Big Beaver Road. Somerset North contains the Collection's food court, and both North and South feature upscale, independent restaurants. Somerset North's Grand Court features a full arched glass dome roof. JPRA incorporated a similar large arched glass ceiling into its design for The Mall at Millenia, another upscale mall in Orlando, Florida also owned by The Forbes Company.
The Somerset Collection contains 1,450,000 sq ft (134,700 m2) of gross leasable area anchored by a 300,000 sq ft (27,900 m2) Macy's, a 240,000 sq ft (22,300 m2) Nordstrom, a 160,000 sq ft (14,900 m2) Saks Fifth Avenue, and a 141,000 sq ft (13,100 m2) Neiman-Marcus.
In December 2009, the Forbes Company which owns Somerset Collection acquired an adjacent site on which an open-air mixed use development known as the Pavilions of Troy has been proposed. In 2011, the Forbes Company debuted a group of pop-up mini-shops called Somerset Collection CityLoft in Downtown Detroit's Lower Woodward Avenue Historic District also known as Merchant's Row on the 1200 to 1400 block of Woodward Avenue, generally open the last Thursday to Saturday of the month from June through August, and occasionally September.
Read more about this topic: Somerset Collection
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