Brooklyn Center Development Concept Would Build Sports Complex on Vacant Target Site
City officials in Brooklyn Center are considering a new long-term vision for the Opportunity Site, a redevelopment project that’s been decades in the making.
If it moves forward, it could bring a youth and adult sports complex to the now-vacant Target site off 6100 Shingle Creek Pkwy.
“We have a lot of youth that play basketball and volleyball that approached us several times through another developer,” Brooklyn Center Economic Development Manager Ian Alexander told CCX News. “There is an opportunity here for us to look at leagues for volleyball and basketball. And our location — we’re centrally located. We’re a prime location. A lot of people travel Highway 100, [and Highways] 694, 94, and 252. So we’re at a great site for that to happen here.”
With increased foot traffic, the hope is that a sports complex could be a catalyst for further redevelopment.
“The idea is to create something here that’s active, that has a lot of vitality,” Alexander said. “People can walk to different things around here — restaurants will come, other things will come.”
This new concept comes as the Brooklyn Center City Council, acting as the Economic Development Authority, ended its development contract for the Opportunity Site with Minneapolis-based Alatus LLC, opening the door to new development opportunities.
What’s the Opportunity Site?
The Opportunity Site is an approximately 80-acre area in Brooklyn Center that’s been planned for redevelopment since the early 2000s.
Broadly speaking, the city’s vision for the site has been a new walkable downtown area that could rise from the ashes of the once-vibrant Brookdale Mall and other nearby properties.
Starting in 2018, the local development company Alatus aimed to build nearly 800 units of new apartments in the Opportunity Site, along with infrastructure to support further buildout.
However, financing for that project has been slow to materialize.
As a result, on March 23, the Brooklyn Center Economic Development Authority formally terminated its development agreement with Alatus.
The Brooklyn Center Target after it was shuttered in 2019. It has since been demolished.
Target and Brown College Sites
Two plots within the larger Opportunity Site are garnering interest from developers: the vacant Target site and the Brown College site.
Target shuttered its Brooklyn Center location in 2019. The building has since been demolished and the nine-acre lot sits empty.
According to city staff members, there’s an appetite to build a volleyball and basketball facility on the former Target site through a public-private partnership.
Likewise, a developer is considering tearing down the Brown College building, a nine-acre site adjacent to the former Target. In its place, a 9-story, mixed-use apartment and commercial building is planned.
Brown College closed its Brooklyn Center operation in 2017, according to state records.
Neither plan has been brought forward for formal consideration. However, city officials say both could help Brooklyn Center stand out from its neighbors and bring in new opportunities.
“I’ve talked to the business community about these ideas — they love them,” Alexander said. “They think that they’re innovative and straightforward and different. And I think what Brooklyn Center really needs to be is not what every other suburb is around here is. We have to be our own thing.”
It would likely take years for either the housing or sports complex development to move forward toward construction.
