Shingle Creek Crossing, formerly Brookdale Center, is a regional

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It became the third enclosed

in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

, after

Southdale Center Southdale Center is a shopping mall located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It opened in 1956 and is both the first and the oldest fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. Southdale Center has of le ...

and

Apache Plaza Silver Lake Village is a mixed-use development in the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota, United States. It was constructed beginning in 2004 as a $150 million plan to replace Apache Plaza, an aging enclosed mall. Its design is meant to resemble a "wa ...

. The mall opened in phases beginning with Phase One in March 1962 which included anchor stores

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

and

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

. Phase Two opened in 1966, adding Dayton's as the third anchor.

Donaldson's Donaldson's, previously known as The L. S. Donaldson Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a defunct department store company. History Scottish immigrant William Donaldson opened a small store in Minneapolis in 1881, located at 310 Nicollet Avenue. ...

became the fourth anchor in September 1967. Brookdale Center was part of "The Dales", what was referred to as the four "Dale" centers circling the Twin Cities, originally developed by

Dayton-Hudson Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

. The others are

Edina EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group. Services EDINA front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at the point of use for ...

Rosedale Center Rosedale Center, commonly known just as Rosedale, is a shopping center in Roseville, Minnesota. The mall is surrounded by suburbs and close to major highways and serves a trade area population almost 2 million people, and boasts 14 million visit ...

in Roseville and

Ridgedale Center Ridgedale Center, colloquially known as Ridgedale, is an enclosed shopping mall in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a western suburb of the Twin Cities. It is directly located off I-394/US 12 between Ridgedale Drive and Plymouth Road ( Hennepin CSAH 61). R ...

in Minnetonka. After a long decline, the mall closed in 2010 and was demolished in 2012 before being redeveloped into the Shingle Creek Crossing development.

History

Brookdale Center

In 1955, prior to the opening and success of Southdale Center in nearby Edina, Dayton-Hudson chose to also develop a mall in the

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

suburb of Brooklyn Center, to be called "Northdale. " A 90-acre site in Brooklyn Center (at the crossroads of Osseo Rd, N. 57th Ave.,

Minnesota State Highway 100 Minnesota State Highway 100 (MN 100) is a state highway in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, which runs from its interchange with Interstate 494 (I-494) in Bloomington and continues north to its northern terminus at its interchange with I-6 ...

, and Shingle Creek) was chosen as the location because Dayton's believed that the area would experience the most growth in suburban Minneapolis within the next ten years. Previously, another developer was interested in the same site for a shopping center, but was rejected because of opposition from nearby land owners. Dayton's also believed that being five miles away from

would not make them competitors (between the two malls was the Mississippi River). By 1957 the development had been renamed Brookdale instead of Northdale, and Dayton's requests to rezone areas around the development were approved. The construction of the mall was announced in September 1960, and was to be built in two phases. The first phase would be approximately 400,000 sq. ft. and include Sears, JCPenney, and an additional 30 stores. The second phase would include Dayton's and 25 more stores. Like Southdale, Brookdale was to be fully enclosed and air conditioned. Groundbreaking was October 12, 1960. Minnesota based grocer SuperValu announced in October 1960 they would build a 25,000 sq. ft. grocery store in phase one of the Brookdale development. JCPenney announced their anchor store details in March 1961, stating they would build a two-story 53,000 sq. ft. store. Construction of the mall was temporarily halted in June 1961 because of a sheet metal workers strike.

Grand opening and expansion

On March 4, 1962 Brookdale opened to the public. The stores open at the grand opening, or soon thereafter, in Phase One were Baker Shoes ( Edison Brothers Stores), Berkley's, Brookdale Barber Shop, Brookdale Pet Center, Brookdale Municipal Liquor, Brown Photo, Buttrey's,

Fanny Farmer Fanny Farmer was an American candy manufacturer and retailer. Fanny Farmer was started in Rochester, New York by Frank O'Connor in 1919, and grew to over 400 stores before being bought and consolidated. History O'Connor had previously start ...

Candy Shop, Fashion Beauty Salon, G & K Cleaners, Gager's Handicraft, Grayson's, Hallmark Cards, Jack and Jill,

Kinney Shoes The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from until . Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol KNN, began in March 1923. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a general ...

, Lancer, Mangel and Hill Meats, Michal's Shoe Repair, Minneapolis Gas Company, Northwestern Federal Savings and Loan, JCPenney, The Record Shop, Sears,

Snyder Drug The Katz Group of Companies is a Canadian privately-owned enterprise, with Samantha operations. In sports and entertainment and real estate development. Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), a subsidiary of the Katz Group, owns the National Hockey Lea ...

, SuperValu, Walbom's, Williams Cafeteria, F. W. Woolworth Company, Snack Bar, Sears Automotive. The mall had more than 3,000 parking spaces, a fish pool, fountains, and a bird cage. Three years after the Grand Opening of Phase One, Phase Two construction commenced in April 1965. A new Dayton's store, an expansion of the existing JCPenney store, and an additional twenty stores were to be added in phase two. In February 1966, work was halted for a week on the construction when 1000 area tradesmen refused to work on several construction projects, including Brookdale, in support of a passenger elevator and escalator workmen strike. In April 1966, it was reported that Donaldson's was considering adding a store at Brookdale in a potential phase three. The Donaldson's store was confirmed in June 1966, which would ultimately give Brookdale four anchor stores upon completion of the additions in 1967. As they had done at Southdale Center, Donaldson's, Dayton's chief downtown competitor, bought land conjoined to the mall complex so they would own the land underneath their store while still being part of the mall. Dayton's and the new East Mall section with 20 shops opened July 1966, and added 421,000 sq. ft. of retail space to the shopping center. Penney's had been enlarged from 53,000 sq. ft. to 140,00 sq ft., more than doubling in size, and also added a 10,000 sq. ft. automotive facility. Donaldson's opened in September 1967, thus making Brookdale the first Twin Cities area shopping mall with four anchor stores. The mall was quite successful after its opening in 1962. Although its customers were not quite as affluent as Southdale Center's trade area, Brookdale Center drew from a large area of the north metro (including from the North Side of Minneapolis). As

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

and Interstate 694 were constructed nearby, the flow of traffic increased. This brought with it homes, people, and shopping. Several nearby major construction projects of the 1960s and 1970s were the addition of businesses featuring Brookdale Ford, a strip mall, and movie theater; as well as many other commercial and residential properties. In 1973, Brookdale was reporting a 13% increase in sales in April 1973 compared to April 1972, and an overall 5.5% increase year to date from the same period the previous year. They were seeing increases in many categories, including stores specializing in jewelry, gifts, shoes, and clothing. By the mid 1970s, Brookdale began to change, as newer shopping malls were constructed within the mall's original turf. Northtown Mall, opened in 1972 in Blaine, was one of the first. The Baby Boomer population of

Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Center is a first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. In 1911, the area became a village formed from parts of Brooklyn Township and Crystal Lake Township. I ...

also had grown up and moved away from home, leaving their middle aged parents behind. Thus, Brooklyn Center had an increasing population of aging and economically disadvantaged residents, and population numbers peaked in the mid 1970s. Dayton Hudson, the developer and original owner of Brookdale, sold 9 shopping centers in 1978, including Brookdale, to Equitable Life Assurance Company. Dayton Hudson continued as Brookdale's mall management company as a term of the sale. Nine years after purchasing Brookdale, Equitable Life Assurance Company sold it to Midwest Realty, a

limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership except that while a general partnership must have at least two general partners (GPs), a limited partnership must have at least one GP and at least one limited ...

division of

Shearson Lehman Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson Equitable Life Assurance Company ultimately foreclosed on the loan when Midwest Realty filed Chapter 11, and the mall was placed in

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

and tied up in the courts for several years. Equitable regained ownership at a cost of $500,000. In 1987, Donaldson's was purchased by Carson Pirie & Scott Co. and rebranded to Carson's. By 1992,

shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

was an issue for most of the malls in the Twin Cities. While Brooklyn Center saw an overall decrease in crime, shoplifting was on the rise in the area, where juvenile theft and larceny had jumped 100 percent during the previous five years. Brookdale participated in a joint program with Brooklyn Center whereas first time juvenile offenders could apologize to the store, possibly make restitution, and thus avoid a criminal record. It was noted that many of the offenders weren't Brooklyn Center residents, and were actually coming from

. The 1990s saw the only renovation to Brookdale, until the major renovation in 2001, when

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

took over the former Carson's location (originally Donaldson's) in 1995. In 1997, Talisman Company purchased Brookdale for $25 million from ERE Yarmouth (formerly known as Equitable Life Assurance). Talisman specialized in turning around the fortunes of ailing malls and shopping centers. Talisman said Brookdale was located in a middle class, not economically depressed area, and mall sales were averaging $270 per square foot, which was higher than the national average. When purchased by Talisman, Brookdale's vacancy rate was about 30%, which was much higher than the other regional malls in the area.

Major renovation and transition

Brookdale was 39 years old in 2001, and until that time, had never undergone a renovation. The mall was described as dingy and tired, and continually lost business to other suburban malls. 2001 finally saw a $50 million renovation; commencing with the demolition of the west end of the mall. Improvements included adding two junior anchors,

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

and

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

, along with youth oriented tenants, a food court, sit down restaurants, cosmetic changes, and better lighting. JCPenney and Sears had previously upgraded their anchor stores; however, Dayton's was slow to update their store, as they were in the process of purchasing Marshall Field's, rebranding, and also perceived to have second thoughts about staying at Brookdale. Brookdale also applied for, and won, $2.9 million in tax increment financing from the city of Brooklyn Center for the renovation. In 2003, mall owner Jim Schlesinger,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Talisman Company, ousted Metro Transit from using Brookdale as a bus center hub. At the time, Metro Transit was running 4,000 passengers per day through Brookdale, and Schlesinger said that he would allow the mall to be a destination, but not a hub for ride transfers. He said he was not running a charity, and that bus riders hanging out at the mall waiting on ride transfers did not make good customers. His stance was that it was up to Metro to build their own Brooklyn Center transit hub and not use Brookdale. Metro Transit subsequently opened the

Brooklyn Center Transit Center Brooklyn Center Transit Center (BCTC) is a Transport hub#Public transport, transit center in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Owned and operated by Metro Transit (Minnesota), Metro Transit, it is one of ...

in December 2004. In 2007,

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

expressed interest in the Mervyn's site; however, that plan was stalled after Sears filed suit. Sears wanted approval of any other anchors which they felt would affect mall parking or access roads.

Store closures and changing reputation

The mall maintained all of its anchors until 2004 with the closing of JCPenney. The mall owner, Talisman, said that it was a mutual decision and would free up space for the mall to lease, as they were coming to the end of their $60 million renovation. That same year, the closing of Mervyn's came when

Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

sold off its department store branch to May Companies, and they promptly shuttered all Twin Cities area Mervyn's. The first floor of the former JCPenney was replaced with

Steve & Barry's Steve & Barry's was an American retail clothing chain, featuring casual clothing, footwear and accessories. By mid-2008, the chain operated 276 stores in 39 states. The company was headquartered in Port Washington, New York. The company liquidate ...

, although Mervyn's remained vacant. Steve & Barry's closed its Brookdale store in the fall of 2008 shortly before announcing intentions to close all stores by early 2009 due to bankruptcy liquidation. Adding to Brookdale's problems,

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

announced on January 8, 2009 that it was closing its Brookdale location. In April, Barnes & Noble announced it would close its Brookdale store effective June 13, 2009, citing the recent closures of the other anchors as the primary reason for the store's poor sales performance. Sears became Brookdale Center's only remaining anchor store, and the mall's vacancy rate reached over 50 percent, the highest of any Twin Cities-area shopping center. Even in the early years, Brooklyn Center had a trade area consisting of lower median home values than the trade area of Southdale Center. Due to these patterns dating back when the mall was developed, Brooklyn Center had a blue collar reputation from the beginning through the 1990s. The stores were merchandised to reflect this reputation. 2008 saw nine violent crimes at the mall (one aggravated assault and eight robberies), down from twelve violent crimes in 2007. Serious crimes (theft, auto theft, arson and burglary) dropped from 581 crimes in 2007 to 544 in 2008, a drop of 6.4%. Theft (shoplifting) dropped from 556 in 2007 to 523 in 2008. When the mall went to auction in 2010, many industry skeptics had doubts as to how successful any redevelopment to the property could be based on trade area shrinkage and area demographics. Stronger retail nodes such as Arbor Lakes in nearby Maple Grove, Minnesota, The Shops at West End in

St. Louis Park, Minnesota St. Louis Park is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 50,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a first-ring suburb immediately west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Min ...

, and Ridgedale Center began to steer customers away from the once thriving node. Continued disinvestment around Brookdale Center also contributed to its decline. However, Brooklyn Center stated at the time that crime was on the decrease in the area, and had dropped more than 22% from 1999 to 2009.

Closing and purchase of Brookdale

In December 2009, Brookdale was scheduled to go on the auction block as a foreclosure. Sears, which owned their own store, was the sole remaining anchor at the time. On April 27, 2010, local newspaper

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

reported that Brookdale had closed on the previous day. Owner Jim Schlesinger still owed $52 million on a $54 million loan, and the center was sold in a sheriff's foreclosure auction. The three lenders still owed were Capmark Finance, Urban Development Fund, and Paramount Community Development Fund, which all assigned their interests to Brookdale Mall HH, who paid $12.5 million for the mall in February 2010. In October 2010, Gatlin Development Company, a frequent Walmart developer, won the bidding for the defunct mall. Gatlin beat out other bidders including a Minneapolis-based developer who wanted to construct an industrial park on the mall site, and a media producer who wanted to open a TV and media production facility. Gatlin later disclosed they had paid $7.5 million for the site, Walmart paid $6.9 million, and the transaction had to be on a cash basis and not financed conventionally. Sears objected to the plans, as Walmart was a competitor Sears didn't welcome to the development, and had already filed suit in 2007 to keep Walmart out of Brookdale. Gatlin paid $1.75 million for the shuttered Macy's anchor, of which Macy's still owned. The Sears store remained open as the company owned the land upon which the store was built. In June 2018, it was on a list of 63 Sears stores slated to be shuttered and closed several months later. Sears closed September 2018, 56 years after opening. The Kohl's store, built in 1987 and detached from the main mall building, was initially part of Gatlin's redevelopment plan, but closed in 2014. HOM Furniture renovated and expanded the Kohl's building, and took occupancy in 2018.

Demolition

Plans for the demolition of Brookdale Center by Gatlin Development Co. were delayed multiple times due to disputes between Gatlin and Sears, which maintained an open store and expressed concerns about access to their store during the demolition process. Demolition plans were also delayed as plans for the construction of the new Shingle Creek Crossing were adjusted and finalized. The revised plans added approximately to the Walmart store, bringing the total to 182,000. The revised plan also included two more restaurant pads than the original plan, and eliminated two multiple-tenant buildings. In August 2011, demolition of the mall began. By September 2011, JCPenney and Macy's former anchor buildings had been razed as well.

Shingle Creek Crossing

Redevelopment of Brookdale Center

Plans were announced by Gatlin Development Co. Inc., a Tennessee-based firm, to acquire the Brookdale Shopping Center and in conjunction with the city of

to transform the mostly-vacant mall into a new shopping center anchored by a

Walmart Supercenter Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and Kohl's. The announcement included the following plans: * Rename the center "Shingle Creek Crossing" * Tear down most of the existing structure, but leave the recently constructed food court in place * Build a Wal-Mart Supercenter which would include a grocery store * Build or redevelop an additional of leasable retail space * Add eight restaurant pad sites and two multiple-tenant retail or service buildings. * Create a green creekscape by resurrecting and excavation Shingle Creek, a stream that was buried in a subterranean culvert under the parking lot when the center was first constructed in the 1960s. The redevelopment included financial incentives from the City of Brooklyn Center of $4.7 million.

Anchoring with Walmart

Walmart, which was the first phase of the $100 million redevelopment, opened September 2012. The food court (which was constructed during the 2000s remodel), Sears, and the corridor connecting the food court to Sears were the only remaining structures from Brookdale. However, in early 2014 the food court was demolished, instead of being enveloped in to the new redevelopment as originally planned. In 2014, LA Fitness opened as a tenant, and construction of a new 110,000 sq. ft. building to house additional merchants. Completion of the new construction was slower than anticipated because of the long winter, and the developer's financing complications. Kohl's closing its store at the development was also unexpected and caused a setback.

TJ Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

and Michaels both joined the development in 2015 by locating to the newly constructed 110,000 sq. ft. building. This activity also spurred further interest in development in the community, including plans for the first new apartments to be built since the 1970s. Walmart's interest in challenging home town

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

, and their market dominance, by constructing on the Brookdale site was credited in 2016 as a defining moment for Twin Cities real estate post-recession turnaround in the area.

Civil unrest

The Single Creek Crossing shopping center was affected by civil unrest in the aftermath following several police killings of African Americans in the early 2020s. On May 28, 2020, several stores were broken into and vandalized during the

George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Local protests over the murder of George Floyd (sometimes called the Minneapolis riots or Minneapolis uprising) began on May 26, 2020, and quickly inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality. The initial ...

. On April 11 and 12, 2021, several stores were looted during the

Daunte Wright protests Protests and civil disorder occurred in reaction to the killing of Daunte Wright on April 11, 2021. Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United ...

; it was reported that a majority of the businesses at the shopping center were damaged. On February 18, 2022, the Icon Beauty store was looted following a sentencing announcement for Kimberly Potter, the Brooklyn Center police officer who was convicted of manslaughter in the

killing of Daunte Wright On April 11, 2021, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop and attempted arrest for an outstanding warrant in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United States. After a brief str ...

References

External links

Archive of Brookdale Center website in 2010 before mall closed

{{Twin cities shopping malls Shopping malls in Hennepin County, Minnesota Minneapolis–Saint Paul Shopping malls established in 1962 1962 establishments in Minnesota