Attention local Kohl’s shoppers ? you’ll have to continue driving to Auburn Hills because your favorite department store is no longer coming to Oxford Township.
Developer Joseph Kosik, Jr. recently confirmed that Kohl’s pulled out of his proposed shopping center ‘a month or two ago.?
‘Kohl’s redid their market study and with the economy changing, they decided they could no longer afford to do the store,? he said. ‘Wish I had better news.?
A 25-acre parcel on the east side of M-24, just north of the village and south of E. Market St. is where Kosik had been planning to build a 180,000-square-foot shopping center with a nearly 100,000-square-foot Kohl’s as an anchor.
He first pitched the project to the township planning commission in February 2006. The township board granted final PUD approval for the project in July 2008.
Kohl’s pullout leaves the proposed Oxford North shopping center with no tenants.
‘I’ve got nobody,? Kosik said. ‘I just own some dirt again. I’m back to square one, starting over.?
The shopping center was originally supposed to contain a Tractor Supply Co. store as well as a Kohl’s, but TSC pulled out when it decided to open a location in Brandon Township.
Kosik blamed Kohl’s pullout on the Michigan Department of Transportation’s repeated delays in approving the proposed improvements to M-24 that he was being required to make in front of his shopping center property.
‘The fact it took us two years to get through MDOT to get something approved,? he said. ‘Government gets in the way sometimes.?
‘Our state’s so pro-business,? said Kosik with a sarcastic tone.