Hearing postponed on ambitious multiuse development for former Kmart HQ site
Posted By: Detroit Free Press on March 8, 2025. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
The site of the old and since-demolished Kmart world headquarters on Big Beaver Road could be Oakland County’s next hot residential address, although the development project will need a bit more time to get going.
The abandoned headquarters complex at 3100 West Big Beaver in Troy — across from Somerset Collection mall — was torn down in late 2023 and early 2024. Since then, the owners of the roughly 40-acre site have put forth a multiphase, mixed-use development plan, calling for:
- Up to 750 units of rental and for-purchase housing.
- A hotel with up to 250 rooms.
- Construction of up to 300,000 square feet of retail.
- Up to 500,000 square feet of office space.
The development would be anchored by a large medical complex for the University of Michigan’s health system, Michigan Medicine, featuring advanced specialty and diagnostic medical services.
The initial phase of the development plan was to have a March 11 public hearing before Troy’s Planning Commission, but the developer, a joint venture involving the Forbes and Frankel families that also owns the site, asked to cancel the hearing date.
On Thursday, a spokesman for The Forbes Co. told the Free Press that they needed to make some adjustments to the development plan and hope to reschedule the hearing for April 8. The Forbes Co. is also the owner of Somerset Collection.
The most recent available copy of the developer’s plan, dated Feb. 25, describes the project as “a carefully blended mix of medical office, residential, hospitality, service retail, food and beverage and health & wellness” that area residents would be proud of. The future apartments, condos and restaurants would all be “best in class.”
“This exemplary development promises to build on the rich history of the Somerset Collection and will certainly provide a stimulus to the Big Beaver Corridor,” the plan says. “An increased tax base and a wide range of job opportunities, living options combined with the re-birth of an obsolete property will highlight the continuation of the development of the Big Beaver Corridor.”
The latest timeline for the development wasn’t available this week. The new Michigan Medicine facility was initially expected to be built and ready to open in 2027.
Replacing a unique design
The old Kmart headquarters dated to 1972 and won numerous architectural awards for its unique design. The building went vacant in 2006, when Kmart finished moving to suburban Chicago following its post-bankruptcy merger with Sears.
Former Kmart employees said the structure’s unconventional layout, involving modular units or “pods,” would have likely made it difficult to adapt for other office uses once the discount retailer left.
The headquarters property was sold for $41.5 million to investors, including BlackRock, who, in 2008, proposed demolishing it and building a mixed-use development on the site of condos, retail stores, offices and a hotel. The envisioned development was to be called the Pavilions of Troy, but the plan died in the Great Recession.
The Forbes and Frankel venture went on to buy the property for $17.5 million in December 2009, with the founder of the Forbes Co., Sidney Forbes, later telling Crain’s Detroit that they bought it as “a defensive move” because a competitor was trying to court Somerset Collection tenants for a retail development.
« Back to Insights