When Toua Xiong first opened HmongTown Marketplace in 2004, he said he wanted to help Hmong families of his generation achieve economic empowerment and a place to call their own.
Now more than 20 years since his Frogtown location opened, Xiong plans to build a new shopping center, one his grandkids and future generations can be drawn to.
“Our children and grandchildren are going to be the next level of shoppers. And they might still go to HmongTown, Hmong Village, but a lot of their products are no longer applicable to these younger generations,” Xiong said.
Xiong’s new project, the Pan Asian Center, will host a public ribbon-cutting ceremony and launch opening from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday in Maplewood, marking the beginning of what is planned to be a multi-year opening.
Pan Asian Center will be a ‘modern Asian mall’
The center, located at 3001 White Bear Ave., is connected to the Maplewood Mall and currently consists of two buildings, a former Sears and Macy’s.
Steven Thao, a partner and general construction developer for the project, said between the two buildings the Pan Asian Center will have 406,500 square feet of space and 24 acres of land.
“It’s going to be like a modern Asian mall, something similar to the malls in Thailand or a mall in Singapore,” Thao said. “And it’ll be built on a small business model.”
The goal is to fully open by 2027, according to Xiong. When complete, he said the Pan Asian Center will include a whole floor for retail spaces along with other floors that will feature 20 restaurants, kid zones, “medical related” and professional office spaces, a spa area, a grocery store and even an event center that can host more than 3,000 people.
Currently, Thao estimates the center has attracted about 5 percent of its tenants, but said conversations are ongoing with other business owners and investors.
Xiong and his group closed on the former Sears building in November 2023 for $5.25 million, and finalized the purchase of the Macy’s building for $3.25 million in this past March
The former Macy’s building will focus more on retail whereas the former Sears is expected to focus on entertainment, according to Xiong.
One of his goals with the Pan Asian Center is to “bulletproof” the business from market crashes.
HmongTown Marketplace survived the housing market crash in 2008 and COVID-19 pandemic while other large retail locations had to close shop.
“We’re designing something that whether it’s 10 more COVID-19 [pandemics] coming, we are still surviving. So that means that we are designing a concept of live, work, play and family,” Xiong said.
One step to keep labor costs down will be the use of robots for cleaning and other functions. Xiong said he wants to embrace emerging AI technology in his newest venture.
“What’s very interesting is that we’re also modernizing, you will see a robot cafe. So those robots are making coffee, boba tea, and they will be making noodles,” Xiong said.
A preview on Saturday
Saturday’s ribbon cutting ceremony will see only a few vendors present and be restricted to the former Macy’s building. For the time being, vendors will be selling their products under temporary permits.
“We can’t really do food yet; that itself has to be approved by the city. That limits us right now. The only use we could really do for this building [former Macy’s] itself is keep it as an open floor concept selling merchandise,” Thao said.
Products on sale for Saturday’s opening will include home goods, toys and other Asian decor items.
Thao said there also are plans to utilize the outside parking lot space during warmer months to host farmer’s markets and food trucks.
The former Sears building will remain closed however. It still needs to go through an interior demolition and redesign that has yet to be approved by the City of Maplewood, Thao said.
“Once they approve it, it’s going to take at least another good year or year and a half for us to even get going with pre-opening,” Thao said.
Growing trend of Asian-themed shopping centers in the Twin Cities
The Pan Asian Center comes nearly three years after Asia Mall opened in Eden Prairie offering an Asian food hall and grocery store with 116,000 square feet of space.
Since then, there’s been a trend in the Twin Cities with large retail spaces being purchased and redeveloped into Asian-themed shopping centers.
The deal for the Pan Asian Center was brokered by the Wyn Group, owned by Marshall Nguyen, who has been involved in the purchase of the Asia Mall building, the former Sears building in St. Paul, the Burnsville Center and the upcoming Asia Village concept in Blaine.
Despite these other projects, Xiong said he doesn’t feel the market will be saturated anytime soon. The size of the Hmong community can help sustain his operations, he said.
The Twin Cities metro area has the largest urban Hmong population in the country. Hmong people are also the largest Asian group in Minnesota, with a population exceeding 94,000.
Up until March, the name for the Pan Asian Center was to be Hmongtown Marketplace II, according to city documents. It was also the name of the LLC behind the former Sears’ purchase.
But things changed recently.
The new name reflects the diversity of the center’s offerings and helps welcome other Asian groups outside of the Hmong community, Xiong said.
Joe Sheeran, a spokesman for the City of Maplewood, said the Pan Asian Center is just the latest Asian business eyeing Maplewood as a target destination. Much of the state’s Hmong population is based in Ramsey County, he said, specifically in Maplewood, where 20% of the population identifies as Asian and Pacific Islander.
Because of that, Sheeran said the Maplewood Mall has become a destination for entrepreneurs trying to tap into a diverse customer base.
Hopes for a larger redevelopment of Maplewood Mall
With that in mind, Xiong said the next goal for the group behind the Pan Asian Center is the full purchase of Maplewood Mall, as early as this summer if the funds can be raised.
Should the sale go through, Xiong said the mall’s tenants would remain as the Pan Asian Center continues opening. The mall’s name might remain the same, but the group’s goal would be to support all the businesses under its roof while creating an inclusive and culturally diverse environment.
The ultimate goal, Xiong said, would be to make the center a “second destination” to the Mall of America.
