The idea of creating an upscale regional mall on the 17 acres cleared during urban renewal just one block east of Granby Street had remained in the minds of Norfolk's economic development officials for many years; at one point, vice mayor, and later judge, Joseph Jordan proposed an enormous, enclosed shopping center to be known as Norfolk Gardens, so elaborate as to include indoor amusement park rides, presaging the development years later of Bloomington, Minnesota's Mall of America.