Brooklyn Center Approves Leasing Target Building to North Memorial for COVID-19 Testing Site
A new COVID-19 testing site could open soon in old Target store in Brooklyn Center
The Brooklyn Center Economic Development Authority (EDA) approved a lease agreement on Monday that would allow North Memorial Health hospitals and clinics to use the space for COVID-19 testing.
“This seems like a great opportunity for the city and for residents to have access to testing,” said Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott in the EDA meeting.
A representative from North Memorial told the EDA that they are is looking to combine two COVID-19 testing sites. The site in North Minneapolis at 4414 Humboldt Ave. N. doesn’t have adequate social distancing available during winter months. Also, the testing location in Robbinsdale near Hy-Vee is a drive-through site, which is not feasible to operate in the winter months.
Dozens of cars lined up at North Memorial Health’s COVID-19 drive-through testing site in Robbinsdale in July.
However, North Memorial believes the 117,000 square foot building on 6110 Shingle Creek Parkway could be a good fit.
“We feel like we can provide good social distancing with the queuing and it’s also on the bus line,” said Lance Ross, the North Memorial representative at the meeting. “We looked at about 20 sites and it seems like this is the best site for us.”
The building allows for one -way flow, so people could enter through the front portion of the building and exit through a side door. Based on current testing capacity, the site could accommodate anywhere from 200-400 people, even 500 people a day. As many as 30 people could be tested at one time, and the testing process would take about 10-30 minutes.
The city of Brooklyn Center purchased the old Target store in Nov. 2019. The EDA, which is comprised of city council members, approved the lease agreement so North Memorial could lease the building and could begin making necessary changes before opening the site.
The plan shared with the city would be to have the facility open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A statement from North Memorial shares more insight:
“As the season changes, North Memorial Health wants to continue to offer safe and accessible COVID-19 testing for both symptomatic and asymptomatic community members. This is an especially essential service as community’s COVID-19 testing needs increase. We plan to open a new, no appointment necessary, testing facility in Brooklyn Center, located at 6110 Shingle Creek Parkway. The new site will open in early December and will offer nasal pharyngeal swab testing, with a capacity to serve up to 600 community members per day. When the new site opens, our current drive-up testing site at 3455 W. Broadway in Robbinsdale will close. Our testing site at North Market (4414 N. Humboldt Ave) will continue to be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We encourage community members to stay up-to-date with testing hours and locations at NorthMemorial.com/Covid-19.”
