Strip malls cropping up all over F-M: A renewed trend
By Craig McEwen, The Forum
Published Saturday, November 18, 2006
Strip malls.
They’ve been popping up across Fargo-Moorhead – about 70 scattered throughout the metro area.
Since 2000, 25 strip malls have been built or are under construction in Fargo alone.
The city got its first in 1955 when the Southside Shopping Center opened at 1503-1543 S. University Drive.
Northport Shopping Center opened in north Fargo in 1956. Anchored by Hornbacher’s grocery store, the strip mall had three other tenants – a Marshall Wells hardware store, a Ben Franklin variety store that is now in the process of closing and a Walgreens drug store.
There are now 41 strip malls listed on Fargo city assessor Ben Hushka’s 2006 tax rolls.
Another dozen or so have either opened during the past year or are under construction, according to Fargo Planning Department records.
One of the newest strip malls is The Shoppes at Osgood complex at the intersection of 45th Street and 44th Avenue South. The complex also houses Fargo’s newest Hornbacher’s store.
Two proposed south Fargo projects, the328-acre Urban Plains development and 277-acre White Oaks Trust LLC of Nevada project, contain plans for future retail centers.
A similar – but smaller – trend is occurring in Moorhead. Developer Kevin Christianson, owner of Paces Lodging, has filed plans to build Azool Retail Shoppes, a 22-acre complex containing a 35,000-square-foot strip mall, and a separate grocery store, restaurant and bank at Eighth Street and 40th Avenue South, said Moorhead City Planner Deb Martzahn.
“People down there are pretty excited about getting a grocery story on the south side of the Interstate,” she said.
The project plat has been approved.
Another new retail/office complex is being built by Fargo-based Arista Development at 12th Avenue and 34th Street East.
Early Years Enrichment Center for infants, pre- and after-school children has already opened in that strip center.
When completed, Moorhead will have 10 strip malls.
West Fargo has three strip centers. The newest one is Eagle Run Plaza being built south of I-94 at 32nd Avenue West and Sheyenne Street.
Dilworth has no strip malls, but there has been some interest expressed in building them, said City Planner Stan Thurlow.
A renewed trend
“The strip center proliferation in America really began in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s,” said West Fargo City Planner Larry Weil.
The concept has endured several phases throughout the country, he said. They’ve been overbuilt in some metropolitan areas and left vacant until a new use can be found.
“A community or area can only support so much,” Weil said. “Whether we’re going through that scenario – or whether developers are more mindful of what the market can bear – I’m not in a position to say.”
Many shoppers today prefer smaller malls with individual store entrances, said Fargo City Planner Jim Gilmour.
“The strip center is probably becoming more popular than the enclosed mall. You don’t see that many shopping centers built anymore.”
Neighborhood hubs
“Strip centers are trying to locate closer to where people are living,” Gilmour said. “It’s kind of where you get your neighborhood conveniences for the week. It’s not where you go to buy a refrigerator.”
Some have become neighborhood shopping hubs that offer drug stores, branch banks, coffee and sandwich shops, and hair and nail salons.
Gilmour said he expects that trend to continue. “As we work on our land-use plan for the future, we’re trying to identify the best kind of locations for those strip centers.”
Communities around the country are building lifestyle centers, said Martzahn.
“They are trying more to replicate downtowns where you have shops on both sides of the street,” she said.
That’s happening in downtown Moorhead.
“What we’re doing on Fourth Street is a strip mall in a sense,” Martzahn said. “And we have those stores facing each other across Fourth Street. It’s convenient and efficient.”
Moorhead’s first strip center – The Brookdale Mall – was built in 1962 at 24th Avenue and Eighth Street South with several businesses using individual entrances.
Much of the mall had been vacated by 1999. Today, the site has a stand-alone bank, a grocery store and several retail businesses.
EasTen, the city’s largest strip mall, was built in 1990 along the north side of Highway 10 between Moorhead and Dilworth.
Later, The Shoppes on 10 was built on the south side of Highway 10.
One of the city’s oldest strip malls is Midtown at Main, which houses The China Garden restaurant, 1126 2nd Ave. S., and a former Walgreens.
A small strip center with a Stop-N-Go, Domino’s pizza and two other tenants is located at Second Avenue and 21st Street South.
Several stores – including True Value Hardware, O’Leary’s Pub and CVS Pharmacy – are located in a strip mall at the intersection of Eighth Street and 30th Avenue South that once housed Sunmart Foods before it moved to Brookdale.
Holiday Center, a strip mall that occupies the former Holiday Mall site at 24th Avenue and Eighth Street East, is home to Aggregate Industries, Minnesota Relay and Little Caesar’s Pizza. A food court on the same site has attracted Qdoba Mexican Grill and Starbucks Coffee.
W.F. follows suit
West Fargo got its first strip mall in 1997 with construction on the Pioneer Center at Ninth Street and 13th Avenue East.
“The whole thing was laid out for a strip center development,” Weil said.
The number of store units fluctuates. They are contained in five separate strips with a stand-alone bank. There will be a Subway in a new unit, expected to open soon, Weil said.
Westgate Commons, home to retail outlets such as Old Navy and Michaels, is in the 1600 block of 13th Avenue East in West Fargo.
Readers can reach Forum Business Editor Craig McEwen at (701) 241-5502
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), the MBA Architecture Group and Condos on the top floor. There are I think 4 left. I think this building is one of my favorites in Downtown Fargo.
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