The recent problems plaguing shopping malls nationwide, which began well before the pandemic shutdown, have been well-documented. One local example is Burnsville Center, the 43-year old shopping complex that went into foreclosure earlier this year. CBL Properties’ 522,000-square-foot portion of the mall was recently sold at an auction for $17.96 million.
Plagued by failing anchor stores, the owners of malls nationwide have been trying various strategies to replace the revenue previously earned from large tenants. Some strategies have worked better than others, and the long term fate of many malls is still in doubt, according to experts.
Fewer than half of the 1,500 enclosed malls built from 1956 to 2005 survive today, according to the real-estate research website Real Daily.
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Hennepin County has backed away from plans to move one of its libraries to Southdale Center, citing the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolving plans of other players at the shopping mall.
County officials had said moving Southdale Library would save money and provide an accessible, community-oriented place to pick up library materials. Now, they re back at the drawing board to map out the future of the Edina library and the 40 other libraries in the county system.
The Hennepin County Board in 2019 asked staff to negotiate an agreement to relocate the sprawling Southdale Library from its longtime home on York Avenue in Edina to Southdale Center, and plans formed to open the branch in the now-defunct Herberger s space. The library would have been below a new apartment tower developed jointly by Simon Property Group, the mall s owner, and Life Time Fitness and next door to a Kowalski s grocery store. Life Time opened a
Over 100 Public Libraries Exceed 1 Million Digital Book Checkouts in 2020
Toronto Public Library #1 worldwide for 8th straight year and Los Angeles Public Library retains top spot for US digital libraries
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CLEVELAND, Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ A record 102 public library systems from around the world empowered readers to borrow over 1 million ebooks and audiobooks from their digital collections in 2020. This represents the most systems ever to reach this milestone through OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform. Contributing factors include increased digital book usage due to the pandemic, elevated interest in social justice titles and BIPOC authors and strong circulation growth for children s and young adult titles because of remote learning.