STAKES ARE HIGH, CITY SAYS
The city of Burnsville pulled no punches in its bid for a major grant to jump-start revitalization of the ailing Burnsville Center.
Jobs, tax revenue and investments are at stake, the city says. If the center closes, the surrounding retail corridor built up over the last 40 years could wither. The whole south metro area would feel the effects.
“If not repositioned in an innovative fashion,” the document said, “the Center could close, which would result in a significant decline in jobs, and risk the demise of the large retail corridor” along County Road 42.
Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, who has insisted the 40-year-old center must not “go dark.”
“Burnsville grew up around the Burnsville Center,” said Burnsville Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Harmening. “The whole community kind of centers on that. We want that to continue, and we want to help support the mall owners. They’re a part of this, and they’re engaged in figuring out what’s next.”
Stung by national retail bankruptcies and changing consumer habits, the 1.1 million-square-foot center faces problems shared by many shopping malls.
The entire retail area employs about 7,000 over 600 acres, 96 occupied by Burnsville Center, the document said. Unabated vacancies at the mall could force it to close, spinning off closures in the rest of the area, it said. Declining property values and sales would depress property tax collections and state sales tax collections, it said.
“We’re not in a co-tenancy situation yet,” Burnsville Center general manager Joe Duperre said, referring to a clause in some retail contracts that grants tenants reduced rent if key tenants or a certain number of tenants vacate a building.
Duperre and his Tennessee-based company — which owns the mall along with Seritage Growth Properties, which owns the Sears space, Macy’s and JC Penney — have been working with city officials.
“I think we welcome any help we can get,” Duperre said. “As a private business and being a community focal point, it’s important for us to embrace the community and move forward.”