Heritage Square: the node that foreclosed, sued a mall, and won

2005–PRESENT · HERITAGE SQUARE DRIVE, AT GUMWOOD AND CLEVELAND

Heritage Square is the best-documented business event on this ground, because it failed in federal court: the development began about 2005 by Gumwood HP Shopping Partners, L.P., a Holladay Properties entity — Holladay of South Bend, its general partner's chief executive John Phair — on the Gumwood Road ground at Cleveland Road, anchored by a Martin's supermarket. The paper trail is a court file. Ann Taylor LOFT executed a lease on June 14, 2006 (Gumwood countersigned June 27), spent more than $100,000 building out its store, and then halted: the LOFT store never opened at Heritage Square, and opened instead at University Park Mall in March 2009. The center itself opened in 2007, by the federal court's account, with the Martin's anchor trading from the fall of 2006. The developer's expert put $38 million invested in the project; the property appraised at $46.3 million on August 16, 2006. Then the course turned: the construction loan was sold in November 2010 for $12.5 million, and in January 2011 the developer surrendered the center by deed in lieu of foreclosure against some $33 million of debt (Indiana Lawyer, March 21, 2016).

Out of that failure came the lawsuit that made the center a national retail-law story. On June 29, 2011, Gumwood HP Shopping Partners sued Simon Property Group — the owner of University Park Mall, a mile away — in the Northern District of Indiana (No. 3:11-CV-268), alleging that Simon had used its leverage over national tenants to keep them out of Heritage Square; the Ann Taylor LOFT episode was exhibit matter. Judge DeGuilio denied the cross-motions for summary judgment in March 2016, in an opinion quoting Simon's internal mail ("Lose a pinky — take an arm!"), and in June 2018 a jury ordered Simon to pay $2.4 million (Indianapolis Business Journal, June 21, 2018). The center the suit was fought over trades on: the current leasing record (Broad Reach Retail Partners) gives 192,977 square feet at 7321 Heritage Square Drive, anchored by the 71,135-square-foot Martin's and its fuel-station pad, with a Mike's Car Wash pad and the Hampton Inn & Suites "Mishawaka/South Bend at Heritage Square" at 7347 Heritage Square Drive — a failure, a foreclosure, and a verdict inside one node's first decade, and a going concern at the end of it.

One question this node carries open, and prints open: which side of the Mishawaka city line the ground sits on. The federal court's opinions repeatedly locate the center "in Mishawaka, Indiana"; the Indiana Lawyer calls it "Heritage Square in Granger"; the business journal's verdict story puts it "a mile away in Granger" under a headline about a Mishawaka mall dispute; and every trade and leasing record addresses it Granger 46530. The parcel-level settler — the St. Joseph County parcel and GIS record — was attempted through the county assessor's GovernMax portal and could not be completed through the tools available to it; the determination therefore stands as a named gap (GAP-BIZ-1) with the county parcel record as its settler, and the conflict prints whole above rather than resolved by ZIP code.

Sources:

1. Gumwood HP Shopping Partners, L.P. v. Simon Property Group, Inc., No. 3:11-CV-268 (N.D. Ind.): summary-judgment opinion (Mar. 2016), report and recommendation (2012), and motion-to-dismiss opinion (2013) — developer entity, Holladay/Phair, development from c. 2005, LOFT lease dates and build-out spend, center opened 2007, $38M invested, $46.3M appraisal (Aug. 16, 2006), loan sale (Nov. 2010, $12.5M), and the court's "in Mishawaka, Indiana" locutions.
2. Indiana Lawyer, March 21, 2016: deed in lieu of foreclosure, January 2011, $33M debt surrendered; "Heritage Square in Granger."
3. Indianapolis Business Journal, June 21, 2018: jury verdict, Simon to pay $2.4 million; the center "a mile away in Granger."
4. Broad Reach Retail Partners, Heritage Square leasing flyer (crawled 2026): 192,977 sq ft; 7321 Heritage Square Drive, Granger 46530; Martin's 71,135 sq ft; fuel and car-wash pads.
5. Hampton Inn & Suites listing: 7347 Heritage Square Drive.