Virginia’s Thunderbird Mall is in the midst of a retail transformation with the additions of Tractor Supply Company (TSC), Caribou Coffee & Einstein Bagels, a national grocery store, and newly constructed spec space for two future retailers.

TSC, the nation’s largest operator of farm and ranch retail stores opened its new Virginia store Nov. 17. Founded in 1938 as a mail order tractor parts business, TSC now sells basic maintenance products to home, land, pet and animal owners with locations in 49 states. Their product lines include clothing, equine and pet supplies, tractor/trailer parts and accessories, lawn and garden supplies, sprinkler/irrigation parts, power tools, fencing, welding and pump supplies, and riding mowers. Unique to the Virginia location is a DIY pet wash station.

Caribou Coffee & Einstein Bros. Bagels will open by March 2018 under one roof, serving coffee, gourmet bagels baked fresh daily, egg and lunch sandwiches, cookies, muffins, juices and smoothies. A national grocery store will open next summer, and negotiations are underway to fill the two new spec spaces.

The transformation began three years ago when RockStep Capital purchased the struggling Thunderbird Mall with the goal of bringing investor capital to the property. The first step was to demolish and redevelop the former Kmart building creating new space for TSC and two additional retailers. The next step was to revamp the parking lot and add a new exterior island pad for Caribou Coffee & Einstein Bros. Bagels, complete with drive-through service, as well as one additional retail space. 

According to RockStep, the addition of the new national tenants was critical to stabilizing the property and validating the market for other potential national and regional tenants who may be uncertain about locating in the market.

“Retailing is going through a fundamental change in America,” said Andy Weiner, RockStep CEO. “Amazon has forever changed shopping patterns, and our goal is to help malls in smaller communities adapt and achieve financial health in this era of robust retail change.” 

The project is locally led by Jody Vest, RockStep’s Midwest Regional Manager and long-time Virginia mall manager. Vest supervises the daily operations and financial management of Thunderbird Mall and RockStep’s other Midwest properties.

“The existing Thunderbird merchants are very excited about the mall development,” said Vest. “We are expecting an upswing in retail traffic which benefits both the new retailers and the existing consumer favorites such as Herberger’s, Dunham’s Sports, Bath & Body Works, Christopher & Banks, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, Cazadores Mexican Restaurant, Glik’s, Angel Nails, GNC and Tradehome Shoes.”

Texas-based RockStep was founded by Weiner in 1996 and has since acquired or constructed over six million feet of shopping center space in the United States. Weiner has family ties to Minnesota through his mother, a Duluth native. RockStep owns properties in nine states. Two of those properties are in Minnesota, including Thunderbird Mall and Kandi Mall in Willmar.

“The Thunderbird redevelopment project has created living-wage demolition and construction jobs and is estimated to add approximately 50-70 full and part-time permanent jobs to the local community,” said Weiner. “The City of Virginia and St. Louis County tax base will increase from the new store operations.”

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $350,000 commercial redevelopment grant. “The agency’s grant was instrumental in making this project happen,” said Weiner. “The new development could not have happened without it.”

View job openings at: Tractor Supply Company and TSC Twitter and Caribou Coffee & Einstein Bros. Bagels

Ten new townhome-style housing duplexes are under construction on the Bois Forte Reservation, creating 20 total new housing units, 16 at Vermilion and four at Nett Lake. There is a waiting list for the new homes, comprised mostly of band member families with children who attend the Bois Forte Head Start program and other local schools.

The new duplexes are situated in areas ideal for children with woods in the backdrop, wide streets for riding bicycles, and large yard space for outdoor play.

“This development is the third phase of our Tax Credit Housing Program, funded primarily through the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA),” said Andy Datko, Bois Forte director of planning & community development. “Forty-eight new low-income homes have been created since 2011 and now more are on the way to serve Bois Forte working families and elders.”

The units will be two and three bedrooms, ranging from just under 1,200 to 1,500 square feet. Expected to be completed next summer, the project has created construction and trades jobs in the region.

“While the new housing is a benefit to our band members, it is also a benefit to Bois Forte’s largest employer, Fortune Bay Resort Casino in Tower on Lake Vermilion,” said Datko. “Fortune Bay employees can live close to where they work at Vermilion where the housing need is great.”

The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa has lived in northern Minnesota for centuries, with ownership of reservation lands near Lake Vermilion, Nett Lake and Deer Creek, designated through treaties with the United States dating back to 1854.

Fortune Bay Resort Casino, which is owned and operated by the Bois Forte Band, currently employs over 500 people and has an annual economic impact of more than $30 million in northeastern Minnesota, according to tribal officials. 

“The Band is committed to serving the Chippewa people in part by strengthening the region’s economy, increasing Band member employment, and providing decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing to the Bois Forte members,” said Datko. 

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported this project with a $100,000 development infrastructure grant, which paid for a portion of the underground site preparation.

Nine communities were awarded grants by Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation for residential blight removal of 49 structures this fall and winter. The communities are: Aurora, Bois Forte/Tower, Cohasset, Coleraine, Ely, Hibbing, Keewatin, Nashwauk and Virginia. 

Local governments are often presented with the financial challenge of removing abandoned, dilapidated or even burned structures. For over 45 years, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation's Residential Redevelopment program has provided funding to demolish dilapidated residential structures and blight within the agency’s service area to pave the way for a cleaner, healthier environment, more attractive communities and new construction.

The City of Aurora had two separate house fires this past summer that both lacked homeowners’ insurance creating public safety concerns. “Being a new city clerk I was unsure of all of the different funding and resources available to Iron Range cities,” said Tim Kauppi, Aurora City Clerk and Treasurer. “When I met with Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation staff, they explained all of their agency’s programs and grants and assisted me with such a positive attitude, going out of their way to make sure I was getting the help that Aurora needed.”

Last fiscal year, 17 Iron Range communities received grants to demolish 78 dilapidated residential structures.

Grants may be awarded to cities, townships, counties and tribal units of government to demolish dilapidated single-unit residential homes, residential duplex homes of no more than two units, garages and accessory structures. Grant money is still available to communities this fiscal year. 

To learn more about the Residential Redevelopment program, email Danae Beaudette or call her at 218-735-3022. 

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation recently awarded Laurentian Vision Partnership Minescapes grants to the following entities: 

City of Chisholm, Redhead Mountain Bike Park - $28,900: To transform an inactive iron mine pit and surrounding property covering approximately 650 or more acres near Chisholm into a municipally sanctioned mountain bike park that will both serve community residents and act as tourist destination

City of Cohasset, Tioga Mountain Bike Park and Recreational Area - $25,000: To construct mountain biking trails, make improvements to parking, a swimming beach, a fishing pier and signage, and develop a trailhead, day use area, and bike repair station (Pictured above)

Iron Range Tourism Bureau - $14,500: To develop a “Bridge View” pocket park along the Mesabi Trail in Virginia overlooking Rouchleau mine pit 

The LVP Minescapes Grant Program assists cities, townships, non-profits or joint powers boards with projects to promote the LVP vision and mission, including preserving lands that sustain current and future mining, promoting landscape options for post mining uses, and identifying and discussing new development opportunities.