Unidale Mall

Last updated
Unidale Mall looking west-southwest Unidale Mall.jpg
Unidale Mall looking west-southwest

The Unidale Mall is a shopping mall located at the intersection of University Avenue and Dale Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The mall is in the Summit-University neighborhood just across from the Frogtown neighborhood. The Rondo Community Outreach Library is west across Dale Street. The Dale Street station on the Green Line is also at the intersection.

The idea for the mall was first started in 1971 as part of the Model Cities Program. The project's ideal result was to create a suburban shopping mall in the heart of the city. The project was pushed by neighborhood activists on city planners. [1] Construction of the mall was completed in 1978 with the mall losing money from 1979 to 1989. [2] In 1987 there were plans to move a nightclub and restaurant to the mall. [3] The mall was owned and operated by Kraus-Anderson in 1988. [4] The anchor of the store in 1989 was the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store. [5] Plans were brought up in 1989 to do a $6.3 million renovation so the mall could host "United Noodles Oriental Food Inc., a drug store, a food court, and several specialty shops." [6] [7]

A 1989 report on the surrounding neighborhood described the mall has a failure and noted the mall's perennial problem of finding suitable tenants. The tenants, such as a welfare office were not the type originally intended. [1] The mall was described as nearly empty 1992 article detailing the problems the surrounding community faced. [8] The mall appeared to be faring better in 2000 when the vice-president of Kraus-Anderson described the mall as fully leased. [9] The mall has hosted a farmers' market on weekends in the parking lot since 1998. [10]

The Saint Paul Public Schools district had plans to purchase the property to host adult literacy education and multicultural programs. [11] [12] [13] The Saint Paul Area Learning Center moved to Unidale Mall on February 1, 1991. [14] Those programs eventually moved out of the mall and became Gordon Parks High School.

Other reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Paul, Minnesota</span> Capital city of Minnesota, United States

Saint Paul is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center of Minnesota's government. The Minnesota State Capitol and the state government offices all sit on a hill close to the city's downtown district. One of the oldest cities in Minnesota, Saint Paul has several historic neighborhoods and landmarks, such as the Summit Avenue Neighborhood, the James J. Hill House, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Like the adjacent city of Minneapolis, Saint Paul is known for its cold, snowy winters and humid summers.

Minneapolis–Saint Paul, also known as the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, in the state of Minnesota, United States of America, has two major general-interest newspapers. The region is currently ranked as the 15th largest television market in the United States. The market officially includes 59 counties of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and extends far to the north and west. The radio market in the Twin Cities is estimated to be slightly smaller, ranked 16th in the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Avenue (Minneapolis–Saint Paul)</span>

University Avenue is a street that runs through both Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. It begins near the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul and extends westward into neighboring Minneapolis, where it passes the University of Minnesota, and then turns north to pass through several suburbs before its main portion ends in Blaine, Minnesota, although there are stretches of road designated as University Avenue that are north of the Blaine terminus, the final stretch ending near Andree, Minnesota. For many years, the road carried U.S. Highway 12 and U.S. Highway 52, and University Avenue is still a significant thoroughfare in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandana Square</span> United States historic place

Bandana Square, formerly the Como Shops of the Northern Pacific Railway, is currently an office center. However, it was initially designed to be an Shopping Mall in the Energy Park neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twin Cities Assembly Plant</span> Former Ford automobile manufacturing site in Saint Paul

The Twin Cities Assembly Plant is a former Ford Motor Company manufacturing facility in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1912, Ford's first assembly and sales activities in Minnesota began in a former warehouse in Minneapolis. By 1925, Ford had relocated its local operations to the bluffs above the Mississippi River in the Highland Park neighborhood of Saint Paul. In 2006, Ford officials announced plans to close the factory, though it operated for three years past the 2008 closure date initially announced. At the time of its closure, it was the oldest Ford plant in continuous operation. The plant's final truck was completed on December 16, 2011. All of the facility's buildings were demolished and the site underwent extensive environment remediation in the late 2010s, paid for by the Ford company. Following a multi-year planning and community engagement process, the site was sold to the Ryan Companies, who began redevelopment of the site in 2020 as Highland Bridge, a 122-acre residential and commercial district.

Apache Mall is the largest enclosed shopping mall in Rochester, Minnesota. It was built in 1969 at the intersection of U.S. Route 52 and U.S. Route 14. The Mall's food court has had free Wi-Fi access provided by Charter Communications since January 2007. Apache Mall is owned and managed by Brookfield Properties, who acquired General Growth Properties in 2018. The mall's anchor stores are Scheels All Sports, Barnes & Noble, Macy's, and JCPenney. Boston Shoe & Boot Repair, Orangetheory Fitness, and Men's Wearhouse are junior anchors. There is 1 vacant anchor store that was once Herberger's. In 2014, the mall's Sears store was closed. However, shortly after the Sears was shut down, plans for a Scheels All Sports were announced, as well as an expansion of the building. Scheels opened in 2015. On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Herberger's would be closing as parent company The Bon-Ton Stores was going out of business. The store closed on August 29, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Street station</span>

Dale Street is a light rail station along the Metro Green Line in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is located along University Avenue on both sides of the intersection with Dale Street. The station has split side platforms, with the westbound platform on the north side of the tracks west of Dale and the eastbound platform on the south side of the tracks east of Dale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington Senior High School</span> Public school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

Arlington Senior High School was a public high school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was located in the city's North End neighborhood, north of Downtown Saint Paul. Arlington opened on September 3, 1996, and was the districts first new high school since Humboldt Senior High School opened twenty years earlier.

The Riverview Corridor is a transit corridor connecting Downtown Saint Paul and the Mall of America in Bloomington via the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. The corridor serves an area from the Saint Paul Union Depot to the Mall via parts of the Metro Green Line and the Metro Blue Line, and a route running parallel to West 7th Street, which runs southwest from Downtown Saint Paul. The corridor creates a triangle connecting opposite ends of the Blue Line and Green Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Agnes School (Saint Paul, Minnesota)</span> Private school in Saint Paul, , Minnesota, United States

Saint Agnes School is a private, Roman Catholic K-12 school in the Frogtown neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and is affiliated with the Church of St. Agnes in Saint Paul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neighborhoods in Saint Paul, Minnesota</span>

Saint Paul, Minnesota, consists of 17 officially defined city districts or neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Parks High School</span> Alternative learning center school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

Gordon Parks High School is a public alternative learning center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The school, founded in 1991, was originally the Saint Paul Area Learning Center. It was then called Unidale Alternative Learning Center for several years, after the local strip mall it operated in; this was often shortened to ALC Unidale. In 2007, a permanent building was built for the school and it was again renamed. The school serves high-school-age students categorized as "at risk" or far behind in grade level. It is the largest of seven alternative day school programs in the Saint Paul Public Schools district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Saint Paul</span> Neighborhood in Ramsey, Minnesota, United States

Downtown Saint Paul is the central business district of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the south, University Avenue to the north, US 52 to the east, and Kellogg Avenue to the west. It is bounded by the Dayton's Bluff, Summit-University, West Seventh, Frogtown, West Side, and Payne-Phalen neighborhoods. The West Side neighborhood is on the other side of the river, and can be accessed via the Robert Street Bridge or the Wabasha Street Bridge. Interstate 35E and Interstate 94 run through the north side of the neighborhood, providing a separation between the Minnesota State Capitol and other state government buildings with the rest of downtown.

Humboldt Senior High School is a public high school located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States which serves students in grades 6-12. The school is the smallest of the nine high schools in the Saint Paul Public Schools district with an enrollment of 858 students. It is the only high school located on the West Side of Saint Paul. The school was founded in 1889 and is one of the oldest in Saint Paul. A founding member of the Saint Paul City Conference, Humboldt fields regular and adapted sports teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frogtown, Saint Paul, Minnesota</span> Neighborhood in Ramsey, Minnesota, United States

Frogtown is a neighborhood in Saint Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Built around University Avenue, the Thomas-Dale neighborhood is colloquially known as Frogtown. Historically, Frogtown was a subsection of the current Thomas-Dale neighborhood. It is bordered by University Avenue on the south, the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks to the north, Lexington Parkway on the west and Rice Street on the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Argyle Street Historic District</span> United States historic place

West Argyle Street Historic District is a historic district in northern Uptown, Chicago, Illinois. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 2010. The community covers an area of about 41 acres (0.17 km2); its rough boundaries are N. Glenwood Ave to the west, Winona Street to the north, Sheridan Road to the east, and Ainslie Street to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summit-University, Saint Paul</span> Neighborhood in Ramsey, Minnesota, United States

Summit-University is a neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that stretches roughly from University Avenue in the north, Lexington Parkway to the west, Summit Avenue to the south and to the east along John Ireland Boulevard, Kellogg Boulevard and Marion Street. Summit-University, Selby-Dale, St. Anthony Hill, Cathedral Hill, Woodland Park, Crocus Hill, Ramsey Hill, Hill District, Historic Hill District, Uni-Dale, North Quadrant, and Central Village all refer to parts of the neighborhood that is broadly known as Summit-University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selby Avenue</span> Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Selby Avenue is a street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that runs east–west from Summit Avenue near downtown toward the Mississippi River. The street runs through the Summit-University and Union Park neighborhoods. The street, especially between Dale Street and Snelling Avenue, has been associated with Saint Paul's black community. The far eastern end of the street has historically been more densely developed and architecturally significant.

WFNU-LP is a community low-power broadcast radio station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, serving Frogtown and much of Saint Paul on 94.1 MHz. The station has a hyper-local focus on the Frogtown community and surrounding neighborhoods. Programming is varied, with multiple genres of music to local talk with community members. WFNU-LP broadcasts from an antenna on top of the Frogtown Square building on the corner of University Avenue and Dale Street in Frogtown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rondo neighborhood</span> Historically Black area in Saint Paul, Minnesota

The Rondo neighborhood, or simply Rondo, is located within the officially designated Summit-University district in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The boundaries of the historically black neighborhood are sometimes referred to as Old Rondo. For much of the 20th century, Rondo was the an important cultural and residential center of the black community in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan region. The core of Old Rondo was demolished between 1956 and 1968, to make way for the construction of the Interstate 94 freeway. At least 650 families were displaced from the neighborhood, as well as many businesses and community locations. The neighborhood, although scarred by highway construction, remained a notable area in Saint Paul with a strong sense of cultural identity. Popular media and historians have the explored the impacts of highway construction and gentrification on Rondo residents past and present. In the 2000s, residents and public officials have discussed ways to reconnect the former community.

References

  1. 1 2 Martin, Judith A.; Goddard, Antony (1989). Past Choices/Present Landscapes: The Impact of Urban Renewal on the Twin Cities (PDF). University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. pp. 109–109.
  2. Thomas J., Collins (December 8, 1989). "UNIDALE MALL REHABILITATION IS PROPOSED". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
  3. Staff writer (August 13, 1987). "Plans delayed for St. Paul nightclub". Star Tribune.
  4. Meryhew, Richard (December 1, 1988). "As Belmont closes, St. Paul looks to rehabilitation". Star Tribune.
  5. Kelly, Sean T. (March 8, 1989). "THRIFT STORE'S BARGAINS BENEFIT POOR, VETERANS". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
  6. Kelly, Sean T. (December 13, 1989). "UNIVERSITY AVENUE REBIRTH IS ENVISIONED BY JOINT PLAN". St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  7. Collins, Thomas J (January 4, 1990). "DEVELOPERS HOPE MALL SIGNALS NEW BEGINNING IN DALE-UNIVERSITY AREA". St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  8. Baker, Ann (January 29, 1992). "PROPOSAL ENVISIONS REBIRTH OF FROGTOWN CORNER". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
  9. Duchschere, Kevin (April 4, 2000). "Plans by Penumbra, others perk up hopes for University-Dale - With porn theaters, strip joint gone, developments take root". Star Tribune.
  10. Melo, Frederick (September 7, 2013). "Farmers only, please - Sun Foods was ordered by St. Paul to stop selling its products at the popular farmers market located in the store's own parking lot; not all markets are held to the same standards, however". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
  11. Livingston, Nancy (March 28, 1989). "SCHOOL BOARD SETS HEARINGS ON EXPANSION PLAN". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
  12. Livingston, Nancy (April 17, 1989). "SCHOOL EXPANSION PLANS ARE DETAILED". St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  13. Collins, Thomas J. (January 17, 1990). "GROUP GIVING FACELIFT TO BLIGHTED NEIGHBORHOOD". St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  14. Livingston, Nancy (December 19, 1990). "SCHOOL BOARD OKS DROPOUT ALTERNATIVE". Saint Paul Pioneer Press.

Coordinates: 44°57′17″N93°7′28″W / 44.95472°N 93.12444°W / 44.95472; -93.12444