A drive-in theater once occupied the site. By the mid-1960s, the same ground had become Dort Mall, an enclosed shopping center built for Flint's changing retail habits.
The one-story mall stands at 3600 South Dort Highway in Flint, Michigan, near South Dort Highway and East Atherton Road, with frontage on several roads.
It opened in stages in 1964 and 1965, before Courtland Center in Burton and Genesee Valley Center in Flint Township. Its property spans 23.7 acres and 255,200 square feet.
The building now serves south Flint and Genesee County through retail, food, services, nonprofits, sports, offices, and community uses, while still carrying the Dort Mall name.
Dort Mall Replaced Flint's Old Dort Drive-In
Cars once lined up where shoppers later walked indoors. Before Dort Mall stood at 3600 South Dort Highway, the site belonged to the Dort Drive-In, part of Flint's car-age entertainment life.
The old drive-in came down in 1963. William Oleksyn replaced it with an enclosed mall, then built a new South Dort Drive-In farther south at 5117 South Dort Highway.
That replacement opened on December 26, 1963, with one screen and room for 1,200 cars.
The new mall rose during 1964 and 1965 near South Dort Highway and East Atherton Road. It was enclosed, one story, and smaller than the regional malls that later changed Flint-area shopping.
Its first big anchors were Yankee Stadium and A&P. Yankee Stadium, no relation to the New York ballpark, came from Flint's own Yankee discount-store chain, which had started as a military-surplus store in 1948.
Dort Mall was not built around a full-line department store. It paired discount retail with groceries, small shops, and daily errands. The South Dort Drive-In closed in 1984.
Dort Mall Opened Before Flint's Bigger Malls Arrived
Dort Mall had a head start. Courtland Center, first known as Eastland Mall, opened in Burton in 1968. Genesee Valley Center opened in Flint Township in 1970. Both were newer and larger.
Dort Mall stayed inside Flint city limits. It became one of the city's earliest enclosed shopping centers, with a scale closer to a neighborhood center than a regional shopping mall.
The building had broad corridors, a simple enclosed shell, and anchors tied to daily use.
The Yankee chain changed hands as the mall was still young. The chain was sold in 1965. Zody's acquired Yankee in 1972.
Michigan Zody's stores closed in the mid-1970s. The old Yankee space later became tied to Sears Surplus and Sears Outlet use.
A&P gave the mall a grocery anchor. That space later became Big Lots by 1993. Early remembered names include Mamselle, Thom McAn Shoes, Walgreen's, Perry Drugs, and local service businesses.
The mall later used the names Small Mall and Mid-America Plaza.
The Dort Mall Cinema Brought Night Crowds Inside
The movie theater opened on November 27, 1968, with "Coogan's Bluff" on the screen. General Cinema operated it as Dort Mall Cinema.
William C. Riseman designed the theater through William Riseman Associates. The original room had one screen and 980 seats.
The cinema gave the small mall night traffic that groceries and discount shopping could not bring on their own.
On June 27, 1975, the theater was split into two auditoriums. Each side had roughly 450 seats. Many large single-screen rooms were divided during that period so theaters could offer more films.
The theater lasted into the early 1980s. It closed on September 28, 1983. The final listed films were "Nightmares" and "Mr. Mom."
The room did not return as a regular movie theater. Later leasing material still identified an 11,700-square-foot theater space inside the mall.
The Light Turned The Basement Into A Dance Floor
The Light was located below the mall near the central entrance area. It was a basement discotheque, and its underlit multicolored dance floor became one of the building's more frequently remembered features.
The club operated in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It gave Dort Mall activity after regular shopping hours. Visitors came for music, dancing, and a setting that differed from the plain retail corridors above it.
Dort Mall included more than a line of stores. The cinema, The Light, restaurants, and local tenants made it both a social location and a shopping location.
That combination became important after larger malls drew away much of the mall's strongest retail traffic.
By the 1980s, the mall's standard retail identity had declined. Sears Outlet or Sears Surplus occupied a major space.
A comedy club also operated during that period. The building continued to function while its place in Flint retail changed.
The Light remains connected to memories of the mall in the late 1970s.
Big Lots, Sears, And The Small Mall Years
The name Small Mall describes the building more accurately than a larger label. Dort Mall was still an enclosed mall. It remained active and recognizable, but it was no longer competing as a full regional mall.
By the 1980s and early 1990s, its tenants were more focused on discount retail, outlet retail, services, restaurants, and specialty businesses.
Sears Outlet or Sears Surplus used a major space in the building. By 1993, Big Lots had moved into the former A&P space.
The name Mid-America Plaza appeared during the 1980s and 1990s. This name gave the property a broader commercial identity.
The original mall layout stayed in place, including the corridors, central entrance, and pattern of small shops.
In this period, Dort Mall was no longer functioning like a traditional enclosed mall. It was becoming a flexible commercial building.
The old anchor spaces were useful because they were large. The smaller rooms were useful because local tenants could use them.
The mall stayed in use because its spaces were reused, not because it returned to its earlier retail role.
Bob Perani Made Hockey The Mall's New Anchor
Bob Perani purchased the building in 1996. After that purchase, the Dort Mall name was used again.
Perani was already connected to Flint. He arrived in Flint in 1969 and played goaltender for the Flint Generals. His hockey equipment business became a well-known sports retailer in the city.
Perani's Hockey World moved into Dort Mall in 1997. The store had moved to Dort Highway in 1989, and the mall provided a larger and more unusual space.
The enclosed building contained hockey gear, collectibles, restaurants, resale shops, service businesses, nonprofit offices, and community uses.
Perani's collection altered the interior of the mall. Old signs, gas-station items, automotive pieces, and Mid-Michigan commercial objects were placed in open areas and empty storefronts.
The building served several roles at once: retail store, storage space, and informal museum.
Most of the collection was auctioned in 2009. Some signs and objects stayed in the building after the sale, and visitors found evidence of that period in later years.
Perani's Hockey World became the mall's most stable modern anchor tenant.
Charlie The Pacu Became A Local Mall Landmark
Charlie lived overlooking Star Brothers Coney Island in a 500-gallon tank. He was a large pacu fish and became one of Dort Mall's more unusual and familiar features.
He weighed 34 pounds when he left the building. He had lived at the mall for at least 17 years and close to 20 years. People recognized him along with the old signs, quiet corridors, and familiar restaurant spaces.
Star Brothers Coney Island had its own place in the mall's memory. Paradise Express also had a place in that memory.
Paradise Express opened inside Dort Mall in 1984 and became known for music, band, poster, gift, and pop-culture merchandise.
Charlie moved in November 2020 to Ohio Fish Rescue in Strongsville, Ohio. His new tank held 3,000 gallons.
The mall lost one of its more unusual landmarks when Charlie left Flint.
Community Services Filled The Quiet Corridors
A Flint police community service center opened at Dort Mall on May 11, 2015. The mall provided the space at no cost. The Flint Blue Badge Corps staffed the center.
By 2021, the Dort Mall mini-station was included in a larger city program to renovate or reopen police mini-stations. The mall was being used for public-facing services as well as for small businesses.
The building also held other activities and services. In February 2020, a Hot Wheels and die-cast club show took place there.
The show displayed thousands of toy cars, including some from 1968. During the COVID-19 period, vaccination clinics used the Dort Mall Plaza area.
The Disability Network held a Community Holiday Party at Dort Mall on December 6, 2023. The event included dinner, dancing, crafts, a photo booth, and Santa.
A tenant list from 2022 included Paradise Express, Kit-su Limited, Perani's Hockey World, The Disability Network, the City of Flint Police, Complete Cleanouts & Liquidations, 475 Elite Boxing, Smoking J's BBQ, and For the Love of Dance.
Mid-America Plaza Still Leases Space In 2026
810 Munchies opened at Dort Mall in August 2025 and held its ribbon-cutting on September 2.
The restaurant was designed to provide a calmer setting. It used dimmed lights, a quieter kitchen, no loud music, and no televisions.
It also offered kids' menu items for sensory needs and family activities.
The April 2026 leasing listing showed that the building still had available space. Dort Mall, also marketed as Mid-America Plaza, has 65,000 square feet available at 3600 South Dort Highway.
The center included 255,200 square feet of gross leasable area, 22 stores, five center properties, 1,405 parking spaces, and 23.7 acres of land.
The listing named uses beyond standard retail. These included nonprofit, religious, office, daycare, school, event center, grocery, video-production, podcast-production, and service-business uses.
Rent was $3.95 per square foot per year, with flexible lease terms.
The available spaces ranged from small suites to large anchor areas. Some smaller rooms could be combined, and one former theater space remained included in the leasing inventory.
The same ground that once held a drive-in still finds new uses, sixty years on.
Notable Milestones
1963 - The original Dort Drive-In site was cleared for the future mall development.
1964-1965 - Dort Mall was built and opened as one of Flint's early enclosed shopping centers.
1965 - The mall opened with major anchors including Yankee Stadium and A&P.
November 27, 1968 - Dort Mall Cinema opened inside the mall.
June 27, 1975 - Dort Mall Cinema was divided into two screens.
Late 1970s - The Light discotheque operated in the mall's basement.
September 28, 1983 - Dort Mall Cinema closed.
1984 - Paradise Express opened inside the mall.
1993 - The former A&P space was operating as Big Lots.
1996 - Bob Perani purchased the mall and restored the Dort Mall name.
1997 - Perani's Hockey World moved into Dort Mall.
2009 - Much of the mall's antique and sign collection was auctioned.
May 11, 2015 - A Flint police community service center opened inside Dort Mall.
November 2020 - Charlie, the mall's long-time pacu fish, was moved to Ohio Fish Rescue.
2022 - The mall continued operating with a mixed tenant base of retail, food, nonprofit, service, sports, and office uses.
September 2, 2025 - 810 Munchies held its ribbon-cutting and grand opening at Dort Mall.
2025-2026 - 810 Munchies hosted free community meals inside the mall.
April 2026 - Dort Mall remained active as a commercial property with available space marketed for lease.
