In 2008, GK Development, the company that owns Columbia Mall, hinted at development plans for the Grand Forks shopping center. According to a Herald report at the time, a rendering appeared to “depict a collection of connected buildings of differing heights located around the perimeter of the (former) Target space with open-air walkways and trees inside, similar to an outlet mall.”
Alas, seven paragraphs into the Herald story, it noted that “GK Development and Columbia Mall officials would not get into specifics about the plans,” but said the plans are “subject to change.”
That seems to be the modus operandi of the mall’s owners.
Eleven years after that Herald report, in 2019, a contingent from GK Development spent three days in Grand Forks and told the Herald that “turning around Columbia Mall is a top priority.” And, the Herald reported that June, that “the group stopped short of divulging specific plans for the mall, but said the trip to Grand Forks is more than just an exploratory mission.”
“We’re on a path to execute and accomplish goals that have been in the works, that we have been planning now, for 18 to 24 months,” Evan Shtulman told the Herald at the time.
In 2020, the Herald reported, big things again seemed imminent. But Shtulman, when the Herald reached him by phone, declined to comment.
And here we are, years after these false tremors of hope. The mall still sits there generally untouched, with a pock-marked parking lot and a declining roster of retail stores. In a conversation this week with the Herald, Mayor Brandon Bochenski declared the mall “kind of the bane of my existence.” He added that he has traveled to visit with the group that owns it, “and we haven’t gotten anything done.”
What, exactly, should be done?
That’s tough to say, since shopping malls don’t necessarily present sound investment opportunities. According to data compiled and presented by Capital One, an average of 581 shopping malls closed per year from 1986 to 2017.
For Columbia Mall, perhaps the future is some sort of mixed-use, flexible space that includes shopping, plus a high-end movie theater or some sort of exercise or experiential opportunity – maybe even a church, a move that has been successful at the Grand Cities Mall, across town.
Or maybe demolish the bulk of it and start fresh with a new outdoors-type space similar to the West End in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Essentially, the West End is a shopping mall, but outside, and heavy with restaurants, night clubs and trendy retailers that face quiet, well-maintained streets.
The trouble with any sort of demolition at Columbia Mall is that Scheels is a thriving business that draws great traffic and, realistically, must be considered one of Grand Forks’ top tourist attractions.
Further, because Columbia Mall is privately owned, it’s difficult to determine what the value is, especially for things like infrastructure.
Eminent domain? Nope.
“(Some) say the city should take eminent domain, at least on their ring road and other stuff,” Bochenski said. “It’s the same people who say, ‘Private property rights are so important,’ except for when it’s somebody else’s property.”
Thus continues the Columbia conundrum.
Meanwhile, the mall in Fargo seems to be strong. Shopping centers in Minneapolis and Winnipeg appear to be healthy, too.
It’s important for a solution to be found for Columbia Mall, which just a decade ago was a retail magnet that attracted shoppers from the region and as far north as southern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Nowadays, many Canadian shoppers are bypassing Grand Forks for newer and healthier opportunities elsewhere, which only hurts the thriving boutiques, restaurants and other retailers in Grand Forks that are not in the mall but still which rely on out-of-town guests to ring their registers.
Aside from the very successful Scheels and a few other retailers there, Columbia Mall is a depressing landmark to a fading retail era in Grand Forks. This week, the Herald reported, there isn’t much news to report on at Columbia Mall, and that’s disappointing.
It’s often said that “no news is good news,” but the lack of any sort of updates about Columbia Mall certainly is not good news for Grand Forks.
Herald editorials are written under the byline “Herald editorial board,” since they sometimes include the thoughts, opinions or written input of multiple authors. Editorials generally reflect the opinion of a newspaper’s publisher.
link