Brooklyn Center Council Rezones Sears To Allow for More Housing
The city of Brooklyn Center is changing development plans for its former Sears, the last vestige of what was once the popular Brookdale Mall.
The Brooklyn Center Sears department store and auto center shuttered its doors in 2018. It has remained vacant since it closed.
Located at 1297 Shingle Creek Crossing, the approximately 15-acre site sits adjacent to Highway 100 and the Shingle Creek Shopping Center.
Redevelopment plans for the site have been in the works for years.
In 2022, the city council rezoned the site to allow for a 230,000 square-foot speculative light industrial development.
However, that development has not moved forward.
According to Brooklyn Center city staff members, the previously developer, Scannell Properties, is backing away from plans to redevelop the site.
With the property in limbo, city staff members proposed rezoning it to a transit-oriented development district.
The city of Brooklyn Center is changing development plans for its former Sears, the last vestige of the former Brookdale Mall.
This designation allows for more housing uses, such as a townhome or apartment.
“There’s been a lot of back and forth that industrial’s the only the thing that can be developed there,” said Ginny McIntosh, Brooklyn Center city planner. “There’s no other use that will work for that site. But we’ve heard otherwise from city staff.”
The council voted unanimously to approve the rezoning.
“I originally did support the light industrial just because I thought it would be good for the city,” said Brooklyn Center City Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson. “What worked then may not work now.”
The property owner, however, was against the move.
In a letter to the council, an attorney for the property owner wrote that it would “inherently remove useful avenues for future creativity and flexibility.”
The Brooklyn Center Planning Commission also recommended against the rezoning.
