Local Restaurant Poised for Takeover

Government Officials Consider Massive Building Project

July 3, 2002
By: Chris Cunningham

Earlier this month, K-Mart Corporation filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, and was forced to close many of its stores. One of these stores was located in Hampton Towne Centre, a mall that has been in decline for years.

Coincidence? I think not.

Stores have been closing in this mall since almost the day it opened, but one retailer has held on, still turning a profit, in a seemingly harmless location nestled near the central gumball machines and fortune tellers.

The Mandarin House Restaurant.

While rummaging behind the after-dinner mint tray in the Mandarin House after paying for my szechuan chicken last friday night, I discovered an encoded (maybe it was written in chinese) document outlining plans for a massive takeover of the entire Hampton Mall.

The Mandarin House, which currently seats about 100 customers at a time, with its full menu available for fast, friendly takeout, would conquer the entire mall, currently used also by at least three other tenants: Hallmark, Payless Shoes, and intermittently the Bay County Library's annual book sale.

Representatives from all three of these tenants expressed alarm at the plan, but the takeover has suprisingly been embraced bycity and county officials alike. Some political visionaries, while rejecting plans for a new library or a downtown hotel/conference center, claim that the new "Mandarin Megaplex" could become a destination entertainment spot for people touring the area.

McCandless Hallmark is unprepared for the upcoming takeover. Parking is not a problem at Hampton Towne Centre. It is rumored that this mall may have the highest average ratio of gazebos to cars in the state.

Hundreds of jobs could be created. New roads would need to be built or even widened. The restaurant could become a central meeting place for business officials throughout the tri-county area, the thumb, and beyond . . . it's actually not that far to Canada. In addition to the restaurant, there could be about 18,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, an indoor swimming pool, an exercise room, a gift shop and maybe even a couple of roller-coasters. One elected official even suggested that a DoubleTree Hotel be connected to the MegaPlex, and then hinted at the idea of selling bonds and using matching grants to raise money for the project. Imagine that! Many commissioners and other officials are optimistic about this method of fundraising. After all, they say, it's worked so well in the past. I'm sure there will be meeting after meeting to discuss the project. Hour after hour of Bay 3 TV coverage. Endless opinion pieces in the daily paper and morning and nightly television news coverage. Hey, what's the hurry? Let's form a committee. I'd expect groundbreaking ceremonies sometime around 2010. For more Bay City Development, get an update on the city's Hotel/Conference Center Project.