South Washington Street / US 81 and 17th Avenue South
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Which retail complex qualifies as the Peace Garden State's first shopping mall? Charter stores in Minot's ARROWHEAD CENTER were in business by May 1962. Bismarck's NORTHBROOK CENTER held its grand opening in April 1963. These community-class venues, both fully-enclosed, encompassed 69,500 and 72,900 leasable square feet, respectively.
A much larger shopping hub was being built in the city of Grand Forks in 1963. SOUTH FORKS PLAZA, a regional-class facility, would be anchored by a 1-level (71,000 square foot) Kmart and 1-level (50,000 square foot) Sears.
In essence, the entire ARROWHEAD CENTER mall could have fit inside the Kmart at SOUTH FORKS PLAZA with room to spare. If ARROWHEAD CENTER is to be considered the first enclosed shopping center in North Dakota, SOUTH FORKS PLAZA will qualify as the state's first regional-class, enclosed shopping center.
SOUTH FORKS PLAZA was built on a 40-acre parcel, located 1.5 miles southwest of downtown Grand Forks. It was developed by H. Grant Jensen and designed by the Grand Forks-based DeRemer, Harrie & Kennedy firm. Kmart, the first operational store, was dedicated on February 8, 1964. Sears commenced operation on October 8 of the same year.
The mall originally consisted of two sections, with their shopping concourses not connecting. Most stores had interior and exterior entries. Charter tenants included Del's Coffee Shop, Leonard's Barber Shop, Stonegate Pets, Kinney Shoes and a Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio.
The complex was acquired by Denver's Century 21 Corporation in November 1969. They had plans to build a series of fully-enclosed, regional-class shopping hubs in the cities of Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot {North Dakota}, Aberdeen, Rapid City and Sioux Falls {South Dakota} and Fort Collins {Colorado}. Each of these eight complexes would be named CENTURY 21 MALL.
SOUTH FORKS PLAZA was to be renovated, making it more inline with the other prospective CENTURY 21 properties. A third anchor, rumored to be J.C. Penney, was going to be been added. Alas, only one of these shopping hubs ever came to fruition. The existing UNIVERSITY PLAZA mall, in Fort Collins, Colorado, was acquired in October 1969. It was renamed CENTURY 21 MALL in June 1970.
Eventually, the Century 21 mall concept was abandoned. Prospective sites were sold, with some being developed into shopping malls by other companies. SOUTH FORKS PLAZA would remain the same for a few years. In November 1973, the two separate mall sections re-opened as a single shopping center. A subsequent expansion, completed in 1977, housed the Mid-Continent Theatres (Midco) Plaza 1 & 2 Cinema. The mall now encompassed approximately 275,200 leasable square feet.
A major rival came on the scene in August 1978. The Dayton-Hudson Corporation's COLUMBIA MALL was built 1 mile southwest of SOUTH FORKS PLAZA. Housing 571,800 leasable square feet, COLUMBIA MALL was quickly established as the preeminent mall in the region, relegating the SOUTH FORKS property to second-class status.
A 51,000 square foot addition was built onto SOUTH FORKS PLAZA in 1989. South Forks Pavilion was a convention facility that hosted shows, concerts and pageants. The next enlargement was completed in 1991. Kmart was expanded into a Big Kmart-format store, increasing its area to 95,000 square feet. The mall now encompassed approximately 351,400 leasable square feet.
Rumors about the SOUTH FORKS PLAZA Sears moving to COLUMBIA MALL surfaced in early 1988. However, the SOUTH FORKS store was remodeled between May and September, putting the rumors to rest....for a while.
Eventually, the stories were confirmed. Sears opened its new COLUMBIA MALL store on August 12, 2000. The old location at SOUTH FORKS PLAZA was subdivided into five tenant spaces, with the largest being a (31,000 square foot), a Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots. This store welcomed its first shoppers in mid-2002. Adjacent to Big Lots were North Dakota Ballet Company, Family Dollar, Zimmerman's Furniture and Aaron's.
SOUTH FORKS PLAZA had changed hands in January 1996. Its new owners were the Chattanooga-based Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company. They flipped the property in June 1997, with the new proprietor being Denver-based J. Herzog & Sons. They completed a face lift renovation in May 1998. As part of this project, interior walls were painted, with new lighting, flooring and a Center Court gazebo installed.
A local congregation, the Hope Evangelical Covenant Church, had opened a temporary sanctuary in the mall in October 1995. After the shuttering of the South Forks Pavilion, they purchased it and converted it into a (50,000 square foot) house of worship, which was dedicated in April 1999.
A 250 thousand dollar renovation revamped the interior of the shopping complex with "turn-of-the-century" storefronts. A carousel was also installed in Center Court. As a facet of the remodeling, the name of the facility was changed to GRAND CITIES MALL in August 2001.
On May 15, 2007, the GRAND CITIES MALL Big Lots closed for good. The space was divided between two tenants. Play It Again Sport commenced operation in 2009, followed by ConsignIt Home Furnishings, which began business in March 2010.
The Hope Evangelical Covenant Church acquired GRAND CITIES MALL in March 2015. The congregation decided to maintain the mall's function as a retail center for the foreseeable future, with the intention of expanding church facilities into vacant selling space. Plans were made for the establishment of daycare, pre-school and adult education centers. Church offices were also moved into the mall.
Play It Again Sports and ConsignIt relocated into smaller storefronts in May 2015. This provided a (31,000 square foot) space for a new Popplers Music store. It opened for business in July 2015. The mall's original anchor store -Kmart- pulled up stakes in March 2019, after over 55 years in business.
Sources:
The Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks County, North Dakota property tax assessor website
http://www.jherzog.com
http://www.hopecovenantchurch.org
http://www.bismarckpride.com
www.cinematreasures.org
http://movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
"Grand Cities Mall" article on Wikipedia
