By: Gary Winkelman | Sterling Heights Sentry | Published May 15, 2026
STERLING HEIGHTS — The monumental rebirth of land where Lakeside Mall once flourished is closer to reality after Sterling Heights City Council unanimously approved a public funding plan that allows a private developer to move forward.
The action authorizes a multimillion-dollar revenue stream for infrastructure and other needs by directing tax money generated from increases in property value in and around the site specifically to the project for the next 30 years. The total tax capture is pegged at $270 million.
“Due to the scale of the project, the substantial infrastructure requirements and existing site conditions, the redevelopment requires a strong public-private partnership,” said Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool. “Strategic use of brownfield tax increment financing and the Transformational Brownfield Program is essential to delivering the public infrastructure needed to make this redevelopment possible.”
The TBP is a Michigan Strategic Fund incentive that lets developers capture taxable income for large-scale mixed-use projects. In addition to property taxes, it collects sales, use and income taxes linked to the site. The program is aimed at revitalizing abandoned or underutilized property into vibrant areas of housing, commerce and community.
Luke Bonner, Sterling Heights’ economic development adviser, said the TBP is “a tool that helps reimburse both the city and developer for eligible infrastructure and demolition costs.”
“The premise of (how) tax increment financing works is that as new value is built on the property, that new construction value (is) assessed over and above the previous value of the property,” Bonner said. “That value is what generates the new property taxes which are used for the investment on the site.”
Lakeside qualifies for the state tax incentive program because as a closed shopping center, the property is deemed “functionally obsolete.”
The Michigan Strategic Fund Board will next review the project and make its final decision in June. According to a city news release, the plan, if approved, “is expected to deliver substantial economic impact — more than $1 billion — including construction activity, long-term job creation, increased property values and sustained tax revenue growth. It will also act as a catalyst for additional investment throughout the City of Sterling Heights and the broader region.”
“The redevelopment of the Lakeside site positions Sterling Heights as a regional leader in large-scale mixed-use reinvestment,” said Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor. “With the right support, this project will deliver lasting economic and community benefits for decades to come.”
In addition to agreeing to the tax capture plan, the city will issue $27 million in bonds to fund infrastructure and other public costs related to the project. The developer, Lakeside OOTB Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Miami-based Lionheart Capital’s Out of the Box Ventures, plans a $43 million bond to help finance the project.
Colin Carby, director of development for Lionheart Capital, said the Lakeside City Center will be executed in phases, working from the interior outward. He said the city has worked closely with the developer in putting together the pieces for the massive undertaking, calling it a “gold star example of a true public-private partnership.”
“The city team has been tremendous for the last few years, working in lockstep together,” he said. “I have never seen a public-private partnership build this well.”
Long-term benefits
According to the city, the Lakeside redevelopment is “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reposition a legacy regional mall into a dynamic community hub designed to meet modern market demands. Plans call for approximately 1,500 residential units, 180 senior housing units, and 150,000 square feet of retail space, all centered around a newly designed town center and supported by a walkable street grid and critical infrastructure improvements.”
The first phase of the project is set to break ground by early 2027. The entire redevelopment will take many years to complete.
City officials said money generated from the tax capture plan will, in addition to paying back bond costs, fund future police, fire and other municipal needs for the area, along with inevitable infrastructure repair.
Redevelopment of the Lakeside property has been a priority for years and aligns with the city’s goals of increased and diverse housing, job creation, economic growth and other gains.
“I’m incredibly excited about this project,” Taylor said. “Not only does it present a transformational opportunity for the city of Sterling Heights, for Macomb County, it provides hundreds of millions of dollars of investment into our community. Hundreds of millions of dollars for new housing. Hundreds of millions of dollars that will pay for construction workers and to support local construction companies and to purchase materials — all supporting our local and regional economy and beyond.”
Although officials acknowledged the lengthy timeframe before full revenue reverts to individual taxing authorities, the long-range benefit is substantial.
“It’s over a 1,000% return on investment from what you get right now on property taxes,” Vanderpool said. “This is, long term, a highly valuable proposition for the city.”
Taylor agreed, saying council’s current actions are creating advantages that will be recognizable and appreciated well into the future.
“What we should be doing, in my opinion, is trying to create things that will last for generations and generations,” he said. “When we talk about planting trees, when we talk about building new parks, when we talk about investing in the city, we’re doing things that may not even benefit me 20, 30, 40 years from now. They certainly aren’t going to benefit everybody in the community. But my goodness, if we had, you know, $10 (million) or $15 million in new tax revenue coming to us this year because a council did something 30 years ago, imagine that. And not only that benefit will accrue to future city councils and future residents of our city, during the next 30 years, we’re going to get use of this incredible place. So, to me, it really is a no-brainer.”