By Brianna Kelly, Reporter/Broadcaster (https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2023/09/12/burnsville-center-sells-pacifica-of-burnsville.amp.html)
Sep 12, 2023 — 2:31 CDT
The Group behind the Pacifica of Burnsville project just brought more of Burnsville Center for an undisclosed price.
The group that's transforming part of Burnsville Center into an Asian supermarket and international food hall is now in control of all but a few anchor spaces within the regional mall.
The partnership recently acquired an estimated 28 acres comprising Burnsville Center from Kohan Retail Investment Group, real estate broker Marshall Nguyen told the Business Journal on Tuesday. His newly formed brokerage, Wyn Group, is involved in the partnership.
Nguyen declined to share the price, but he clarified that the sale did not include the Macy's, JCPenney and Sears anchor spaces, which are all separately owned.
Great Neck, N.Y. - based Kohan acquired most of the mall for just under $18 million in a late 2020 foreclosure auction and moved forward in 2021 with a plan to subdivide and sell off portions of the 47-acre mall site off of County Road 42 for future development.
In early 2022, Kohan sold a portion of Burnsville Center containing the former Gordsmans store, Dick's Sporting Goods, Kirkland's, Panera Bread and Noodles & Co. for $10.6 million to Aurora, Ill.-based Windfall Group, a developer specializing in Asian lifestyle centers, and a handful of local investors including Nguyen.
That group, which is led by Windfall CEO Eddi Ni, is planning Pacifica of Burnsville, a redevelopment of the former Gordmans store into a 50,000-square-foot Enson Market grocery store and a 12,000-sqaure-foot food hall with 10 fast-casual concepts. Construction is underway and expected to wrap up in late 2023 or early 2024.
A proposed 15,000-square-foot addition would create space for two full-service restaurants, including Brazilian steakhouse Bullvino's Churrascaria, as part of a second phase.
Now, that same group with the addition of Afro Deli & Grill owner Abdirahman Kahin, own nearly the entire mall. Nguyen said he extended an invitation to Kahin, who wasn't originally involved in the Pacifica of Burnsville project, given their great existing relationship. (Kahin was one of Nguyen's first clients when he first became a broker.)
Burnsville Center has struggled with mismanagement, disinvestment and vacancy for years, but Nguyen and his partners still consider it a "phenomenal location with huge potential," he said.
The Business Journal's latest Largest Shopping Centers List, published in mid-December, ranked Burnsville Center the No. 7 metro mall by size, with more than 1 million square feet. With a 36% vacancy rate, it's the emptiest of the 25 largest shopping centers in the Twin Cities, but thats neck and neck with Southtown Shopping Center in Bloomington, according to Business Journal research.
As a result, foot traffic at Burnsville Center was down almost 50% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2019, according to data provided by Placer,ai, a foot traffic analytics platform commonly used by the retail and commercial real estate industries.
"The goal is to bring in uses that drive a lot of foot traffic, as part of our plan to revitalize the center,"