Half-million-sq.-ft. Michigan mall to get new life from local entrepreneur
A 33-year-old Michigan entrepreneur who dropped out of the 7th grade to study accounting and computer technology at a local community college has acquired a 570,000-sq.-ft. mall north of Saginaw with plans to renovate it.
The new owner, Jordan Dice, plans to draw several new national and local tenants to Midland Mall and help it avert the fate met by one of his favorite childhood hangouts.
“I grew up with the Hampton Square Mall near Essexville and it was a shame to see it close,” said Dice, who apparently won the mall in an auction with a bid in excess of $5 million, according to the Midland Daily News in Michigan.
Midland Mall had been owned since 2018 by Great Neck, N.Y.-based Kohan Retail Investment Group, which owed Midland County more than $1 million in delinquent property taxes for 2021 and 2022.
The mall is anchored by Target, Dunham’s Sports, and MyMichigan Health. Other tenants include Bath & Body Works, Buckle, Claire’s, Olivera’s Texas Pit Bar-B-Q, and Planet Fitness.
New tenant Hobby Lobby is due to open in the fall, and Dice says he plans to repurpose some 100,000 sq. ft. of the property.
Midland Mall general manager Angela Browning said she looks forward to working with a local owner.
“I am very excited for the potential and future of the mall,” Browning told the Midland Daily News.
The ambitious Dice obtained his high school equivalency certificate after obtaining two degrees from Delta College in University Center, Mich., at the age of 17. He started his first business, StarNet Wireless, an internet service provider, three years before that and claims to have booked a million dollars in sales before turning 20.
Dice’s father is Clifford Dice, founder and CEO of the Bay City, Mich.-based Dice Corporation, an alarm monitoring company whose clients include retail centers, healthcare providers, and loss prevention centers.
In a press release, Dice said that his great-grandfather David William Dice, Jr. was one of the Midland County area’s first residents more than 150 years ago.