A strip mall in Brooklyn Center will be transformed into a ”model of economic inclusion and innovation” for business owners of color, according to two organizations that purchased it.
The Shingle Creek Center, 6010-6100 Shingle Creek Parkway, was purchased in November for $5.2 million by African Career Education & Resources Inc. and the Ignite Business Women Investment Group.
Denise Butler, associate director of African Career Education & Resources Inc., said she’s excited to see some community investment in the area after the Walmart a mile up the street closed and left earlier this year.
“You’ll find a lot of the businesses that continue to be here and have been here longer than Walmart are our BIPOC businesses,” Butler said.
Butler’s organization connects African immigrants and refugees with education, employment, healthcare, and affordable housing resources.
The Ignite Business Women Investment Group was formed during the COVID pandemic when 32 African immigrant women business owners faced rent increases, evictions, and poor landlord practices. The women raised money to create a real estate investment cooperative.
The 40,000-square-feet Shingle Creek Center has 18 units, Butler said, adding that there are four vacancies.
Tenants already occupied the building when it was purchased, including a Mexican restaurant called Brother’s Taqueria, a laundromat, Amie’s Hair Salon, and Rose Garden Asian Bistro.
Next door is a vacant Target store that closed in 2019. Butler said the city plans to demolish the building, but that her organization wants to help develop it if possible.
“We are looking to partner with the city around what the usage looks like for that space,” Butler said, adding that she hasn’t had talks with the city yet.
No plans have been finalized for the former Target space, according to Butler. African Career Education & Resources Inc. would like to use the vacant lot for community activities in the summer.
The Shingle Creek Center is located on land Brooklyn Center marked as the Opportunity Site, an approximately 80-acre area Butler said investors can develop with tax breaks for their business’ first 10 years of operation.
Brooklyn Center’s master plan website lists at least three multi-family residential buildings and a conference center that will be built on the Opportunity Site during the project’s first phase.
Butler said African Career Education & Resources Inc. and the Ignite Business Women Investment Group are open to community members’ ideas regarding the Shingle Creek Center’s future. She hopes to create a business incubator at the strip mall to help grow small businesses in the Brooklyn Center area.
Jannie Siebure, a member of the women’s group, said she saw the building’s purchase as proof that anything was possible as long as you stick to it.
“We came together because we believe that, by bridging our businesses, we can create wealth, change lives, and build a larger market audience,” Seibure said in a news release about the purchase.
Butler told Sahan Journal the majority of tenant businesses at the strip mall are BIPOC owned.
Residents of color make up more than 60% of Brooklyn Center’s total population, according to census data. The area saw a 10% increase in its BIPOC population over the past decade.
Butler said the plan is to capitalize on entrepreneurship from diverse communities and potentially expand the strip mall in the near future. The parking lot could be converted to future retail space, she added.
“I’m excited that they’re going to be at the forefront of the conversation when we talk about development, because [Brooklyn] Center is primed for development,” Butler said. “It’s the new downtown to be honest. Sorry, Minneapolis.”
