Crowds are long gone from Eastland Mall (Google Street View)
Eastland Mall, on its last legs but still taking up a big footprint in Harper Woods, was sold at auction for $3.1 million on Thursday in a sale the Free Press describes as a bidding war.
The identity of the winning bidder — and whether he or she has the ability to pay — was not immediately known.
The online auction opened with a $500,000 minimum bid and was scheduled to end around 2 p.m., but ran until just before 2:45 p.m. because the flurry of last-minute bids added time to the clock.
The auction's winner gets nearly all of the enclosed mall except for the former Macy's and Target stores.
The mall at Vernier and 8 Mile dates to 1957, the year Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviet Union as the world's first space satellite. All anchors have left, including Macy's, Sears and Target -- leaving behind a Shopper's World, K&G Fashion Store and several smaller stores. In recent years, the property has been plagued by violence, including at least two shootings, one of them fatal.
In September, officials with the city of Harper Woods said they would propose to the new owners that the site be redeveloped into a new city hall and police headquarters.
