The city of Sterling Heights is engaging developers and drawing up new zoning at Lakeside Mall as it prepares for the demise of the traditional brick-and-mortar shopping center in favor of a "downtown-esque" city center.

Officials are set to unveil to the public Thursday evening two new concepts that could take over the sprawling 1.5 million-square-foot mall on Hall Road between Hayes and Schoenherr roads, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor said.

Urban design plans for the Lakeside Mall District include two concepts. The first keeps the fully-enclosed mall largely intact and surrounds it with public, residential, medical and office space. The second takes a wrecking ball to the concrete behemoth built in 1976 and replaces it with more of a ground-up redevelopment. Neither are set in stone, but the city wants to make its vision for the site clear, Taylor said.