In April 2016, Sears Holdings – the parent company of K-Mart – announced another round of closures for the battered retailer, which were scheduled to close a total of 78 K-Mart and Sears stores.

One on the list was the last remaining K-Mart Downriver: the Van Born Road location in Taylor. Upon its planned closure in September, 2016, it would put to rest the company’s storied, 54-year history Downriver, having begun with the original location on Eureka Road in Southgate, which was opened into the early 1960s.

At one time or another, eight K-Mart stores dotted Downriver landscapes: (two in Southgate and Taylor, one each in Flat Rock, Lincoln Park, Melvindale and Woodhaven).

Meanwhile, Taylor Lanes, which was host to various Professional Bowlers Association events from 1985 until 2009, announced its closure date as April 30th. One of the more modern bowling centers to have been built Downriver, it had been in operation since the early 1970s, but was purchased by Life Bridge Church to expand its congregation from its original building at Allen & Superior Roads. The church group announced six of Taylor’s 48 lanes would remain with the building once renovations were completed by November of 2016.

On May 25, 2016, a public information session was held at Lincoln Park Middle School hosted by the Michigan Department of Transportation (M-DOT) regarding major construction to occur on I-75 in 2017. For the first time since at least the mid-1980s, plans were announced to replace the entire bridge decking of the troublesome Rouge River Bridge taking I-75 over the Delray community.