Signs of life emerging at Brookdale Mall

After years of limping into decline, the site that was the Brookdale Mall may be poised to make a step forward.

Wednesday was a deadline for bids on the property, now owned by lenders. On Thursday, a spokesman said the group had "received a number of bids" for the Brooklyn Center site -- he wouldn't say from whom -- and hoped to announce a winner within the next week or two.

Maple Grove television and film producer Donald Jackson confirmed that he had met with the owners Wednesday, with a bid "in there somewhere" near the $17.5 million asking price. He declined to identify his funding sources. Loren Van Der Slik, of Gatlin Development Co., who at one time expected to make a bid for a Wal-Mart store on the site, wasn't available for comment Thursday.

Because the deal involves private land and private buyers and sellers, Brooklyn Center officials remain in the dark for now. But they're very interested and active observers.

"We're hopeful that we'll hear something, at least preliminarily, with that site, that we have a developer or a new owner," said Mayor Tim Willson. "We think we're doing things right as the economy improves. We think we're well-positioned."

The mall looms large in the city's long-range plans, viewed as a potential large-scale, mixed-use redevelopment or a landmark destination. The entire 64 acres of land -- including the Sears and Macy's properties, which are not part of the sale -- have been zoned to allow for housing, retail, office and other uses.

With help from the city, the federal government, the county and Three Rivers Park District, the city has upgraded bordering roads to the tune of about $6.8 million. The result is a sweeping landscaped median, trails and a pedestrian plaza along Bass Lake Road and rows of trees, benches and perennial plantings along Xerxes Avenue. From the start, the hope was that the work could spur other development.

Last year, Brookdale's previous owners, Brooks Mall Properties of Coral Gables, Fla., defaulted on a $52 million loan. The mall's three mortgage lenders, led by Horsham, Pa.-based Capmark Financial Group Inc., bought the property at a February sheriff's auction for $12.5 million.

Aside from Sears, which remains open and which owns its site, the 48-year-old mall is shuttered. The last stores closed nearly five months ago.

On a recent morning, Sears was active. Next to it, the former Steve & Barry's store had shed its marquee. On the Macy's side, the shadow of a long-since removed Dayton's sign was visible on the stone facade, a reminder of better years. Around the mall, doors were locked and windows papered over, but the window into the former food court remained uncovered, revealing neatly arranged rows of tables and chairs.

Willson noted that even if there is a successful bid, nobody knows when redevelopment might start. Timing isn't so important; the property has remained on the tax rolls through foreclosure, he said, though a successful redevelopment could restore the land to the top tax generator it once was.

Brookdale is only one part of a redevelopment plan for the city that has included a new Embassy Suites Hotel on Earle Brown Drive; the FBI district office, under construction just off I-694, and opportunities being marketed on the former sites of Howe Fertilizer, Brookdale Ford and Pilgrim Cleaners.

But Brookdale has a special place in residents' hearts, years after it ceased being a defining part of the city's identity.

"Every neighborhood group meeting I go to, every event I go to, it's probably the question most asked, what's going to happen to Brookdale?" Willson said. "I have to be honest and say I don't know. The city doesn't own it and we don't have much control over it."