For Richfield, a hub of debate

The Hub, one of the Twin Cities' oldest strip malls, has fallen out of favor with some Richfield residents despite nearly full storefronts and a busy parking lot.

The unhappy shoppers include Mayor Debbie Goettel, who calls the mall old, dated and a legitimate source of safety concerns. She said bus stops nearby fuel the problem.

More than a year ago, Goettel was in a Walgreens and saw a teenage boy steal something and escape by running to a bus. She said employees told her it happens often.

"We have a lot of kids hanging around there late at night and in groups," she said. "Stuff like that makes seniors and other folks a little nervous."

In a survey of Richfield residents released in November, one in five respondents said they did not feel safe at the Hub. More than one-third had an unfavorable impression of the shopping center, at 66th Street and Nicollet Avenue. About 17 percent of those who said they were afraid said it was because of crime. Almost one-third said it was because of "people."

Richfield police say there is no crime wave at the Hub. While there was a much-publicized shooting involving teenagers at a nearly bus stop in 2005, police say crime at the Hub is no higher than anywhere else in the city.

The mayor said that may be true, but people see crowds of kids hanging around near the Hub and they see police cars in the area, and perception becomes reality, she said.

Still, not all residents agree with that assessment: Doreen Ulrich, who lives two blocks from the shopping center, said it's not her reality.

"I shop at the Hub all the time, and I've never been afraid," she said. "I love Richfield. It's easy, it's convenient and it's safe."

As someone who can still look at the city from the perspective of an outsider -- Ulrich moved to Richfield after she married and lives in the house where her husband grew up -- she wonders whether the survey is an indication that some longtime residents don't realize how much Richfield has changed in recent years.

Between 1980 and 2000, the city's minority population increased from less than 3 percent to more than 21 percent. That growing diversity is visible at bus stops and other public places, such as the Hub, Ulrich said.

"Richfield is changing," she said. "It's vibrant and, yeah, it looks different to me. I think some lifelong residents don't get out a lot, so they don't know the world has changed. When they do, they're surprised at what they see."

A history of activity

The Hub opened in 1954 and at the time was the "largest planned shopping center in the Twin Cities," with 32 stores, according to an opening-day story in the Minneapolis Tribune. Anchor tenants included J.C. Penney, Walgreens and the New England Furniture Co.

Though the Hub's owner, Australia-based Centro Properties, has run into financial problems, there's no evidence of that at the Hub.

According to Centro's website, there are 24 tenants in the 216,000-square-foot center, including Blockbuster, Bally's Total Fitness, Rainbow Foods, Michaels and Dollar Tree. Eight storefronts are unleased, but they make up less than 5 percent of the total space in the center.

Centro hasn't asked for redevelopment, and redoing the area isn't on the city's to-do list right now. Hub property manager Pamela Barney said in an e-mail that the company would not respond to questions.

But Mayor Goettel said that while the Hub may remain viable, she would like to see the center added to the city's list of possible redevelopment projects. She is supported by a small group of loosely organized Richfield residents who are calling for change at the Hub.

The group was started by Bret Hagglund when his wife, Leigh, wanted to move following the bus stop shooting. The couple stayed in their home roughly eight blocks from the Hub. But Hagglund has mounted a campaign to replace the aging mall with a heart-of-the-city development like St. Louis Park's Excelsior & Grand.

"We began meeting and hoping that somehow we'd sway the owners of the Hub to tear it down and build it up like St. Louis Park," he said. "If they do that, it would lessen crime and obviously clean up the area."

Questioning look and layout

City officials say much of the teenage activity around the Hub is created by a confluence of bus stops at 66th and Nicollet. Leigh Hagglund agreed, saying that she is sometimes unnerved by youth loitering at bus stops.

"I've seen kids harassing people with threatening and disrespectful behavior," she said.

But she also says the Hub is "dated and old-looking," and that the parking lot can be dangerous because of a convoluted layout. She would like the center to be replaced by a development that would give Richfield something unique and draw shoppers from outside the city -- a center with more specialty shops and upscale stores. Too many Hub stores are targeted toward low-income people, she said.

"Richfield has a big opportunity now," she said. "Let's put something in that would define us."

Goettel believes that the Hub site could be used more efficiently and parking could be redesigned to be safer. While the bus stops and the people they bring to the Hub will remain, she said, there are ways to design buildings and spaces to minimize crime. She, too, points to St. Louis Park, where youth continue to congregate around Excelsior & Grand but have places like a park where they can gather.

"Of course kids like to hang out together," Goettel said. "But in St. Louis Park, police calls have gone down. ... We could have buildings designed in a way to be a deterrent, so it wasn't so easy for people to jump off a bus and shoplift."

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380