The front page of the May 24 business section the StarTribune featured an article titled Face-lift for Edina’s venerable Southdale mall by Steve Alexander. Some excerpts:
Southdale is getting a makeover, and the city of Edina is helping to pay for it. A $19.1 million renovation of the nation’s oldest enclosed shopping mall announced Thursday features redesigned entrances, a dining pavilion, a new play area and a change in decor from floor tiles to lighting…
Funded by a $5.1 million interest-free loan from Edina and a $14 million investment by mall owner Simon Property Group of Indianapolis, the face-lift is designed to make Southdale competitive with the metro area’s other regional malls…
Edina city officials will fund the $5.1 million loan for the project with tax increment financing, in which the money is recouped from presumed future increases in property taxes in and around the mall that are related to development. Scott Neal, Edina’s city manager, said the loan represents a low risk to the city because the terms say that if the city’s increased tax revenues aren’t enough for the city to make the annual payments on the $5.1 million loan, Simon will make up the rest. Simon Property Group originally offered to invest about half as much in the renovation of Southdale, but increased it to $14 million after city offered the loan.
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