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SOUTHFIELD, MI-Northland Center's owner will redevelop some of its stores to create a strip center along the east side of the mall. The Northland plans call for adding stores and restaurants along Greenfield Road, purchasing or redeveloping the empty J.C. Penney building and transforming a rear section of the mall that faces Greenfield Road into storefronts.

GP Northland Center LLC, which owns the nearly two-million-sf mall, says the plans will also add exterior entryways to stores that face Greenfield Road. The move will take advantage of the visibility of the mall from Greenfield, says Larry Ruppert, general manager of the mall.

Working with merchants already in the center, GP Northland Center will either divide the stores and add new tenants on the outside of the building or provide an interior and exterior entryway for larger stores. In addition, GP Northland Center plans to lease pad sites on the outskirts of the parking lot along Greenfield, Northwestern Highway and J.L. Hudson Drive, Ruppert says. Restaurants are likely to be interested in the space, he suggests.