“This is a very first-step process in our Northtown planning study,” said City of Blaine Community Development Director Erik Thorvig. “I would suspect the end results of this aren’t what you see today out there. We’re trying to bring in some concepts that introduce new land uses and really change the use of the area.”
Northtown Mall–where General Manager Paula Mueller refused to comment on this story–is owned by Washington Prime Group, which earlier this year filed for bankruptcy re-organization. Like many similar shopping centers, it has had anchor and other retail outlets leave and it’s surrounded by half-used buildings and restaurant spaces. The city’s vision for redevelopment extends north to include other shopping centers and even Northtown Library.
“There’s obviously been a lot written about the state of suburban malls in our country but also in our region,” said Tom Whitlock, president of Damon Farber, the Minneapolis architecture firm the city hired to develop the ultimate plans. “What we see is people re-investing in those–Eden Prairie just got a Scheel’s. Southdale. Ridgedale. Rosedale.”
Planners stressed that a process like this could take years or even decades to come to fruition. Thorvig said the goal is to bring preliminary plans to Blaine City Council at its workshop on November 15, and to host a public open house at Mary Ann Young Center on December 9. The final plans could go to city council sometime in early 2022.
“We’re not interested in creating a paper plan that creates a vision that’s not attainable,” said Whitlock. “We want to get all of the stakeholders on board–city, property owners–and create a vision that’s acheivable.”
The city also has a survey online for residents to weigh in.
“We’ve gotten almost 2,500 responses, which is a huge piece to this,” said Thorvig. He said city leaders have also included leaders in Spring Lake Park, Fridley, and Coon Rapids on these discussions, given the properties’ proximity to those cities. “Public input in any kind of planning process is important, because we don’t want to introduce something the public isn’t going to use or want.”
