Removing that building will not only clear the land for new use, but it’ll also make the old JCPenney look a bit nicer, and give Edgewater much needed visibility from Memorial Dr. / Hwy 42, which is / was / still is a major route heading to Door Co. for people who like taking the ’scenic route’

This is all a boon for Edgewate.
A deli too huh….AND a new facade?

I’m liking this news. Must get up there soon. With the temps going up (finally!), I may need to get up there soon to take in all the action….I’m shooting for sometime in April.

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100304/MAN0101/3040507/Mall-demolition-planned

In a nutshell:
* It’s official that there are plans to demolish most of the Mid-Cities Mall; possibly later this year. A mixed-use development will be planned for the site.
* Continuing the “nowhere to go but up” trend established by the advent of Jovial Coffee; a deli will open at Edgewater on May 1, and a new facade is planned as well.

I’ll be a bit sorry when the Mid-Cities Mall is torn down, but I have to say that it has to be done. The structure has been standing abandoned for ten years; it’s an eyesore, and it’s almost too far gone in physical condition for any other fate. And it can’t help the viability and appearance of Edgewater/Lakeshore when there’s a creepy, crumbling building across the street. This will be interesting to follow.

I took some more pictures of Mid-Cities today, and will get them uploaded eventually…

If true, it will be a sad day indeed…

I may have to skulk around there this week. Weather’s supposed to be warmer (high 30s) and sunny..all the better to peer thru the windows.

Had I been alone and not on a schedule (I had my daughter along and we were already late), I would have stopped and inquired about a group tour for anyone interested in seeing the interior / taking pics.

As it is, I will keep my eyes open as I travel past.

Don’t know if a note taped to that door would get to the proper people….that would be an avenue to try, too. But I’m thinking a face-to-face approach might work better – so they don’t automatically assume I’m a 12 year old whack-a-doodle.

Thoughts, gentlemen?

I know what you mean. It’s hard tn not have some hope for a property that’s been laying in a state of stagnation for 3-4 years, other than a name change.

Getting updated restrooms and a java joint are a start though.

I didn’t realize that it was just cheap paper covering the old familiar stencil-lettering for Prange Way’s interior sign. Also weird how it looks like it’s just one of those cheap fluorescent box-type fixtures. Anytime I saw the stores logo affixed to an exterior or interior facade back in the days, it was in red-orange channel letters. Being it was 1979, in a recessionary period, and it was the first new store bearing their new concept and logo, they probably wanted to be on the cheap in case it didn’t pan out. Those fluorescent fixtures were cheaper to install than more expensive (but more attention-grabbing) neon channel lettering that I’m sure the rest of the center’s storefronts featured in its heyday.

I’m quite sure I’ll be making a trip up to that area once the ground thaws. Not sure what you had planned, but I shall let you know when the time comes closer.

It’s my instinct to be pessimistic, but it would be great if the advent of Jovial Coffee was the start of a renaissance for the mall. And, it would be great if JCPenney would get off their duffs and move across the street; even if it meant the loss of the antique “Penneys Package Pick-Up” sign on their existing store. Coincidentally, Manitowoc has a new mayor for the first time in 20 years; so perhaps some new ideas of where commercial development in the city should be might come to light.

Feel free to let me know if you’re ever in town!

I’ve been having, odd dreams the last few years since I started visiting Edgewater / Lakeshore Mall. Many of them presented me with a place that was cleaned up and filled with businesses and other types of tenants.

Could this all really be a sign of things coming? I sure hope so. Don’t bother with the national names, except if they fill in the larger spaces within the mall. Fill it with local business to drive foot traffic and make it as unique as possible. I’m sure the owners know they can’t compete with the south-side Walmart and the like, and you want to keep Younkers and Sears as major ‘anchors’.

JCPenney, you listening? Snatch up that old Prange Way space.

Penney had to of had a second level, but it was perhaps only accessible towards the back. The way the layout of the store is today (it got a remodel in the 1980s) doesn’t indicate any evidence of a stairwell or escalator / elevator well anywhere.

The building’s footprint is only 45,000 Sq Ft (90,000 div in 1/2 )

Interesting about Wards. Maybe they jumped ship sooner than we may have speculated. It was during a time (late 1970s/early 1980s) where the chain’s owners just didn’t seem to know what direction to go with the stores.

(aside; Sears is in the same dire straits too that Wards was in, even if they have an advantage of better locations and name recognition. They have no focus….same gig that ultimately put Wards into unrecoverable territory.)

Another Mid-Cities mystery that piques my interest is a possible ’second level’ (albeit, very small, and probably just for the mall office) towards Ward’s end of the mall. Side wings that run parallel to Penney and Wards had the typical low ceilings, but the center (main) hall and show-court fronting Penneys is about 33ft high, floor-to-ceiling. You can see the raised roofline when looking at the building from Memorial Dr easily.

H.C. Prange Co didn’t waste time after opening their shiny new Edgewater location. They took the format and signage package to the rest of the chain, completing the chain-wide remodeling program by the mid-1980s.

If only a time machine could appear and throw us both back to ‘68 and ‘79 for these two malls respectively.

Unfortunately this comment thread hardly touches the length of those for Rolling Acres, Randall Park, and Freehold Raceway Malls. Those have this one beat by miles.

Thanks for the heads-up on Stevenson’s. It’s kind of neat that the Edgewater Prange Way was the said chain’s first “new prototype” store: Hard to believe the signs are still up. (The paint-over is starting to weather away, revealing grungy gray splotches in the shape of the words “PRANGE WAY” once more…)

A couple additional “mysteries” about Mid-Cities:

* As much info about the malls as I’ve dug up, there are still a few details I’m unclear about: When precisely Montgomery Ward closed, for example. Like everyone else I assume it was in late 1983 or early 1984, but I cursorily spot-checked some microfilms from 1982, 1983, and 1984 and didn’t see Wards advertisements in any of them.

* Regarding the “phantom” second floor of JCPenney that no one I’ve asked has any recollection of existing: The articles surrounding Penney’s grand opening in 1968 don’t specifically say anything about a second floor or show any photos of escalators or elevators that would indicate such, but I have noticed something curious: There are references to Penney’s spanning 90,000 square feet of space, which is larger than the physical footprint of the store.

(As a side note, could this possibly be the longest-running thread on Labelscar?)