Tuesday, November 26, 2019

America's first enclosed shopping mall: Southdale in Edina




Abandoned malls are sputtering back to life with megachurches, rooftop pools and homeless shelters.  (Washington Post, 11/22/2019)
After losing three of its four anchor department stores, the country’s oldest shopping mall was in need of new life. 
Southdale Center in Edina, Minn., [no longer called a mall] is getting it this month in the form of a Life Time “resort,” complete with a rooftop pool and beach club. 
The new gym — which also has a full-service spa, cafe and co-working space — will take the place of a former J.C. Penney store. Life Time is spending $43 million building the three-story facility. 
“Malls have become a phenomenal opportunity for growth,” said Parham Javaheri, executive vice president of real estate and development at Life Time. “They have great visibility, great access and many of them have been around for a long time, so they’re located at the center of offices and residences.”

Current zoom-in, zoom-out map of Southdale

And then there's this history, which does not include a visit to Southdale.


The apartment's location (orange arrow) is 3024 West Lake Street.  And the apartment tower to the right was not even on the drawing board in 1970.

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