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Waterford gives okay for demolition, redevelopment of Summit Place Mall

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There are still more questions than answers as to what will happen to the Summit Place Mall in Waterford. It’s been shut down for years, and is a massive eye sore.

Board members with Waterford Township heard from the buyer's representatives who want to purchase the property at a meeting Tuesday night.

But, the plans kept changing, and so did the dollar amount.

Residents who attended the meeting felt something was off with the buyers pitch.

“I don’t know that it was an outright lie, but I think they were being deceitful in what they were saying to us,” said Brent Bott, a Waterford resident.

Summit Place Mall has been in ruins for 8 years, and residents are sick of it.

“I’ve been a homeowner here for two years and our community is sick and tired of inaction,” said Bott.

Other residents want action and someone to take ownership.

“There seems to be contention about money available from Lansing, but nobody seems to want to go to Lansing and say, we need the money now to make the deal happen,” said Waterford resident Steve Darling.

Representatives for a group of buyers in California who want to purchase the property asked the Waterford Township board for another extension, 120 days, to submit paperwork.

“I went through the list of extensions, extensions, extensions and the bottom line is we still have a dangerous building down there there’s nothing with it, nothing going on with it,” said Gary Wall, Waterford Township Supervisor.

Enough was enough, a vote to demolish was unanimously approved.

“The biggest applause came when they were asked if they would like a vacant field there and people said yeah, we’d like a vacant field there,” said Wall.

Even though the order to demolish the Summit Place Mall is now in the works, board members can still put the brakes on, if a legitimate buyer comes forward.

The estimated cost to demolish the mall is around $4.2 million. That would be paid for by the property owner.