Shopping mall in the United States
Shingle Creek Crossing, formerly Brookdale Center, is a regional shopping mall in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It became the third enclosed shopping mall in the Twin Cities, after Southdale Center and Apache Plaza. The mall opened in phases beginning with Phase One in March 1962 which included anchor stores Sears and JCPenney. Phase Two opened in 1966, adding Dayton's as the third anchor. Donaldson's 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. The others are Southdale Center in Edina, Rosedale Center in Roseville and Ridgedale Center 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 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, 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 Apache Plaza 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 Candy Shop, Fashion Beauty Salon, G &amp; K Cleaners, Gager's Handicraft, Grayson's, Hallmark Cards, Jack and Jill, Kinney Shoes, Lancer, Mangel and Hill Meats, Michal's Shoe Repair, Minneapolis Gas Company, Northwestern Federal Savings and Loan, JCPenney, The Record Shop, Sears, Snyder Drug, 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 140,320 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 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 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 division of Shearson Lehman. Midwest Realty was inattentive to Brookdale, and disbursed the mall's cash flow to other partners, and did not reinvest into the mall. Equitable Life Assurance Company ultimately foreclosed on the loan when Midwest Realty filed Chapter 11, and the mall was placed in receivership 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 &amp; Scott Co. and rebranded to Carson's.
By 1992, shoplifting 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 Minneapolis.
The 1990s saw the only renovation to Brookdale, until the major renovation in 2001, when Mervyn's 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 and Barnes &amp; Noble, 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 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 in December 2004.
In 2007, Walmart 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 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 &amp; Barry's, although Mervyn's remained vacant. Steve &amp; 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 announced on January 8, 2009 that it was closing its Brookdale location. In April, Barnes &amp; 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, 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 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