Some call Burnsville Center a ‘dead mall.’ Can it be brought back to life?

Abdiqadir Daud sat behind the counter of his children’s clothing shop, eyeing the brightly colored dresses and glittery shoes. But something critical was missing from the well-stocked store in Burnsville Center: customers.

“This mall has changed,” said Daud, who has seen foot traffic sink since opening Children’s Choice at the suburban shopping mall in 2017. “Everything is going little by little.”

When it opened in 1977, Burnsville Center was the place to be, its palatial food court and big-box stores epitomizing the indoor mall craze then gripping suburbia. Nearly five decades later, hope for its revival hinges on an Asian grocery store and food hall that have faced persistent delays.

But the struggles of the past remain.

The rise of online retail and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed mainstays like Sears and Gordmans to close. A series of ownership changes and a foreclosure that grabbed national headlines edged the mall toward a grim milestone in 2023: 50% of the 1.1-million-square foot mall was vacant, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported at the time.

Today, nostalgia for Burnsville Center’s better days — a buzzing food court, long lines to take photos at Christmas with jolly mall Santas — is strong.

“It’s sad,” Michelle Samuelson said after perusing J.C. Penney and leaving empty handed. “I mean, this was our mall.”

Yet, there are signs of life. Work continues on the Asian grocery store and international food hall that a clutch of investors announced in 2022 before purchasing a sizable portion of Burnsville Center. City leaders are optimistic the venture will inject new life into the space, but they lament the delays. The $30 million development was set to open in early 2024.

Now, as the new owners attempt to revitalize the mall, they face a formidable challenge: reversing its flagging reputation. In 2023, a YouTuber known for profiling struggling shopping centers declared Burnsville Center a “dead mall.”

Can it be brought back to life?

In the beginning, it seemed like Burnsville Center couldn’t fail.

It boasted 160 stores about a decade after opening, and a major renovation in 1989 added amenities more fitting for an upscale hotel than a suburban mall: a glass elevator topped with a clock tower, granite floors, a gurgling fountain.

When the Mall of America opened in 1992, Burnsville Center didn’t wither in its competitor’s shadow, instead parlaying MOA’s success into a cheeky ad campaign of its own.

“The mall (that Takes Up Very Little) of America,” winked one billboard in 1995.

Foot traffic persisted into the 2000s, with 99% of stores occupied in 2006.

“We’re situated in a great spot,” the mall’s general manager told the Star Tribune that year. “If we give these people what they need, we’ll be successful for a long, long time.”

It proved an overly rosy prediction.

Sears’ 2017 closure dealt Burnsville Center a major blow. In 2020, the mall went into foreclosure after its Tennessee-based owner fell behind on mortgage payments.

A developer known for rehabbing distressed malls bought the bulk of Burnsville Center at auction, and hope for a turnaround surged. But Mike Kohan quickly caught flak from elected officials for letting the center languish. He sold part of it in 2022 to Pacific Square USA, the group that’s spearheading the vast food hall, Ate Ate Ate, and grocery store called Enson Market.

Among the current owners is Wyn Group, the brokerage firm behind the popular Asia Mall in Eden Prairie.

Wyn Group CEO Marshall Nguyen declined an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune and didn’t respond to questions about when the space will open.

But workers were busy at the food hall last week, lugging ladders between signs that displayed its wide-ranging options: lobster rolls and ramen, boba and ice cream.

Burnsville City Council Member Dan Kealey said the co-owners told him they’re eyeing August as a tentative opening date after supply problems stalled the project.

“They’re working as hard as they can,” he said. “I think everyone’s disappointed with how long it’s taking.”

Kealey added that he hopes the development will boost business in a long vacant corner of Burnsville Center. But it won’t be a panacea.

“I think the bigger concern,” he said, “is the rest of the mall.”

That concern pushed city leaders in 2018 to tap an architecture firm to design a plan for Burnsville Center and the area surrounding it.

The plan imagined an array of establishments, from parks and restaurants to new housing and corporate offices. And the city has embarked on road improvement projects near Burnsville Center to attract developers.

Tom Whitlock, the president of the landscape architecture firm Damon Farber, said the mall has struggled to devise a “unique identity” that could make it relevant again.

The Asian grocery store is “one of the pieces of the puzzle that can help begin to create momentum,” he said. But, Whitlock added, “I don’t think there’s one silver bullet.”

Other malls in Minnesota and elsewhere have embraced approaches that make new use of old spaces — from building senior housing nearby to increase foot traffic, to attracting niche retailers with devoted followings.

Rosedale Center recently wrapped up a $50 million redevelopment that added a slate of dining options and an enormous Dick’s Sporting Goods to the Roseville mall. The center also caters to the area’s Asian population: vending machines that dispense blind boxes, a fad that’s made its way from Asia to Minnesota, continue to draw crowds.

“We’ve kept with the trends,” Rosedale Center General Manager Lisa Crain said.

Burnsville City Council Member Dan Gustafson said Burnsville Center’s co-owners have proposed concepts that could add a distinctive dash to the mall, including an ice rink. Kealey said he’s heard talk of indoor pickleball courts and an arcade.

But none of those plans have materialized, a fact Kealey attributed to the challenge of attracting private sector partners.

“They got some successful pieces,” he said, pointing to businesses like Sustainable Safari, an indoor zoo that features kangaroos and armadillos. “They just need to get more of them.”

Still, bright spots exist. A former Gap Kids is now filled with scuffed ramps that make up SkaterApolis, a popular hangout spot for young people.

Owner Mark Somerville said the closure of Macy’s next door has dented business a bit, with fewer curious shoppers wandering over to the indoor skate park. But he’s hopeful outdoor concerts, a new venture, will draw customers. And he’s looking to the new owners, who embraced his unconventional idea, to herald a new era for the old mall.

“Definitely, there’s challenges,” he said. “But we’re trying to remain optimistic.”