Rushmore Crossing at Rapid City (Sioux Falls: credit, employment, tenants)

[DannyBanany]

I have driven by all the sites on I-90 a few times and it looks like they've been working pretty hard. Furniture Row is nearly complete as is Target. They have started on Scheel's and portions of the mall itself too.

Further down the Interstate, Cabela's is making progress and they have begun building roads north of the Interstate. Exit 61 (city bypass) is coming along pretty fast too and when that is finished more hotels and housing developments will be going into that area. If you drive into Rapid City on I-90 all you will see is construction and dirt work!

I love Border's too! A friend of mine works at the Seattle's Best Cafe inside so I can get free coffee and I could spend hours in that store. I can't wait for our Barnes and Noble which will also be in the Rushmore Crossing mall.

[tpabes]

So what will happen to Rushmore Mall after this is done?

[DannyBanany]

Originally Posted by tpabes

So what will happen to Rushmore Mall after this is done?

The Rushmore Mall will stay open, but it will lose many tenants like Target, Scheel's, and some smaller stores. The Rushmore Mall has needed to be remodeled for over a decade and it already has trouble keeping tenants due to its small size. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rushmore Mall either gets a complete renovation within the next few years or closes down.

[tpabes]

Thanks Danny, thats what I figured would happen. That will be tough, to not only lose tenants but lose your anchors too. I hope it revitalizes itself, Rapid City doesn't need a huge empty complex sitting there.

[Chris19]

I think that the owners of the Rushmore Mall will need to remodel the mall to maintain its tenant mix after several major stores leaving the mall. What the Rushmore mall should do, along with some other enclosed traditional malls, is to reinvent itself and attract other forms of entertainment such as a skating rink, movie theater, and even tearing down and rebuild the mall but in a different form.

My guess is that the mall could close, but there are other ways to maintain tenants and have a lively shopping experience for customers. I suggest that Rushmore Mall should be converted (in phases over a couple year period) into a main-street or village type of shopping center with storefronts on the lower level and apartments and offices on the upper level(s). There would be more park areas and entertainment options such as skating, theaters, mini-golf, and others. To become relavent and survive in the future, Rushmore mall along with other traditional malls may need to become mixed used centers that utilize their shopping draw along with having lofts and entertainment options in more of a park-type and community atmoshphere.

I venture that the Empire Mall (not in as dire shape as Rushmore Mall, Southern Hills in Sioux City, Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines, and Crossroads Mall in Omaha) will need to reinvent itself when Dawley Farm and Galleria at River's Bend in eastern Sioux Falls get going. The other malls floundered to some extent with a new mall/lifestyle center opening up with the Southern Hills Mall taking a slight hit and Merle Hay (to me seems like a ghetto mall, but they are trying to spruce it up) and Crossroads hurting. I do not think that the Empire will get hurt as bad as Rushmore Mall and the other ones mentioned, but I think that it will need to be updated in the future to not go down the same fate.

[DannyBanany]

Last time I was in Omaha it seemed like they were remodeling Crossroads. I think they were adding a whole other level that would include a Super Target.
Has it gotten better?

The Rushmore Mall was built in the late 1970s and the Cafe Court wasn't added until around 1994 because it used to be a movie theater. I remember seeing Mrs. Doubtfire there when I was little and I thought it was the coolest movie ever!

IMHO, the Rushmore Mall will be torn down in a few years and home sites will be put in its place. I just don't see the Rushmore Mall flourishing after losing some of its main tenants and having such large competition just down the Interstate. I wonder if retailers near the Rushmore Mall like Kohl's, Best Buy, Border's, PetSmart, Hobby Lobby, and Someone's in the Kitchen won't move closer to Rushmore Crossing in the future too.

With the construction of the city-bypass, I predict more retailers becoming attracted to Exits 61, 61, and even southside Rapid City.

[tpabes]

What they did to Crossroads, was take out Younkers and put in a Target. It is still struggling. In fact, the city had some reps from Simon, who own the mall, come in and have a meeting on how the mall can become better and how the city can help. It is at such a hugh intersection of the city, that the city doesn't want development opportunities wasted.

Kind of a different question, but is Rapid City getting any commercial development in other parts of the city, especially the southside, seems like almost everything is along I-90. I heard once that Wal-mart was going in on Hwy 16, but last I heard they couldn't find a site.

[DannyBanany]

Actually there is a lot of commercial development planned for the southside, which is exactly what Rapid City needs. Along Sheridan Lake Road and Catron Boulevard there are several plazas with businesses like Curves, My Girlfriends Kitchen, 24 Hour Fitness, Buffalo Wings and Rings, and World Class Golf. There are also several banks on the southside and large apartment complexes like Sheridan Lake Highlands and Eagle Ridge.

WalMart is still looking for a second location on Highway 16, but many people who live in that area (my mother included) do not want to see a WalMart in their backyards. I can't say that I blame them because that part of town is mostly residential and has great views, but commercial development needs to get away from I-90 and Highway 16 is a prime location. I am sure that in time WalMart will get its way, which is fine with me.

[MJ1986]

Danny, I had to laugh... I remember seeing Mrs. Doubtfire, and thought it was the best movie ever too!
I've never been to the Rushmore Mall...the tourist attractions kept us busy!
I can't wait to make it out to Rapid again...looks like a lot of new development is taking place

[Chris19]

Danny,

Where would you think that retailers such as Amercian Eagle, Foot Locker, PacSun, Old Navy, Penny's and Herbergers would go with the Scheel's, Target, and a few other retailers leaving for Rushmore Crossings and if the mall closes down? I am sure that they will stay or migrate somewhere else in the city and this is more a theoretical question.

I forgot to mention that with Sioux Falls, the same thing happened back in the late 1970s and 1980s with the Western Mall after the Empire Mall and Empire East (was originally called the New Town Mall) opened up.

Western Mall opened up in the late 1960s and was a popular place to shop until 1975, when the Empire Mall opened up (in a smaller form and has been added onto a couple of times since then). The Empire East opened up in the late 1970s/early 1980s. I can remember as a kid that the Western Mall was basically a "dead mall' back in the late 1980s with the exception of Best Buy (which was where SD Furniture Mart is now), 1/2 Price Store (which is now Gordmans and it moved to the Empire Mall area in 2001 area-Scheels took its place), a grocery store (then a Phar-Mor store-a bigger version of a dollar store and similar to a BigLots with minor variations), the movie theaters, Walgreens (which left in 1989 and Champp's took its place), and a few other merchants with many vacancies and a dim look inside.

The Western Mall went through a slow transition to a lifestyle center from a traditional mall in the mid to late 1990s when Best Buy moved from its old spot to the west end (previously occupied by Phar-Mor), SD Furniture Mart opening up in the old Best Buy space and Champps expanding their restaurant. Since then, SD Furniture Mart expanded and the 1/2 Price Store area was torn down for a brand new Scheels and offices moving into the vacant spaces. Western Mall is livelier in appearance and activity compared to its stagnant and dingy appearance of the late 1980s.

Danny, I think that the Rushmore Mall may go through a renaissance similar to that of Western Mall but may be reincarnated in a different format or mall management will be creative in finding additional tentants. It may be an opportunity for those looking for store space to move in.