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Sterling Heights looks to re-energize vacancy-plagued strip malls across city

Posted By: Macomb Daily on May 27, 2025.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

Sterling Heights wants to jumpstart vacancy-plagued strip malls at nearly two dozen intersections across the city, especially those impacted by now-empty pharmacies, by expanding what kinds of businesses can set up shop.

Earlier this month, the Sterling Heights City Council voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance that creates neighborhood and district “nodes” to allow more zoning uses in strip malls at certain intersections. Jake Parcell, city planner and city development manager, said the ordinance is expected to be adopted during the June 3 council meeting.

The ordinance will allow dozens of zoning uses at more than 20 shopping centers of various sizes across the city, clearing the way for a wide range of businesses, including golf simulators, hotels and restaurants.

The city wants to help shopping center owners fill vacancies, including empty pharmacies, dozens of which have closed across Metro Detroit in the last two years.

The ordinance will allow more zoning uses at nine intersections in the city than were allowed previously. A vacant Rite Aid store at the corner of 19 Mile Road and Schoenherr Road, for example, could be turned into a supermarket or a gym under the ordinance.

“We’re really opening up the uses that we think would be really conducive to kind of draw people in, to allow in all of these corners, to give some flexibility to the business owners,” Parcell said.

He said the shopping centers at these intersections vary in size ― some can house as few as four to five tenants and some as many as 15 to 20.

Through the ordinance, the city is creating three “neighborhood nodes,” which are smaller intersections with less traffic and largely surrounded by single-family neighborhoods, Parcell said at a meeting earlier this month. They include Dequindre Road/17 Mile Road, Ryan Road/17 Mile Road and Dodge Park Road/15 Mile Road.

The city is also creating six “district nodes,” which are regional hubs with larger stores and that are at busier intersections. Some examples include Dequindre Road/15 Mile Road, Ryan Road/18 Mile Road and Schoenherr Road/14 Mile Road.

Parcell said the ordinance will permit 71 uses in both the “neighborhood nodes” and “district nodes.” They include veterinary offices, other office spaces, garden supply stores, hardware stores, banquet and event spaces, restaurants with catering or outdoor seating, hotels, golf simulators, bowling alleys and many other uses.

The ordinance also allows multi-family housing to be built at these intersections. Proposed apartment buildings would have to be reviewed by Sterling Heights’ Planning Commission or City Council.

Parcell said the ordinance will also allow property owners to work with the city administration to reduce their parking requirements. A plaza may have 1000 parking spaces, for example, but the current owner may now only need 400. Reducing the number of spots would allow more businesses to move into the plaza.

“We have a higher burden of parking than we should,” Parcell said of Sterling Heights.

Eating at the Dodge Park Coney Island in the Dodge Park Plaza, a strip mall with at least a couple vacancies, the Rev. Joe Kue, who lives in Sterling Heights, said that if the ordinance is going to provide more services such as restaurants and stores, it’s “great.” He also thinks that it could provide more work for people, as they could get jobs at these stores.

His friend, the Rev. Jimmy Yang, said he hopes the city limits the number of liquor licenses it issues as it redevelops these areas. He worries that too many licenses could contribute to crime.

Yang, who lives in Sterling Heights and is a pastor in Warren, would like to see more retail establishments, including clothing stores, in his residential area.

“I would want to zone things that would bring things that would enrich the community and the residential area here,” he said.

The City Council also unanimously adopted earlier this month a rewrite of the city’s Master Land Use Plan, which is a long-range plan to govern future land use.