Southdale Center’s 70th Anniversary: Gruen’s Edina Vision

"Here is a chance to amble and promenade, to window shop, to chat with friends." That line comes from Southdale's 1956 press release. The same document called the building "an introvert center," with a quiet exterior and lively interior that held trees, tropical plants, a bird cage, a pond, a fountain, a juice bar and a newsstand.

Seventy-five thousand people came to the gala opening on October 8, 1956. Another 188,000 visited the next weekend. The building they toured was only part of what its architect had in mind. Seventy years later, the rest of that plan is closer to existing on the France Avenue site than it has ever been.

The Plan Was Bigger Than a Mall

Southdale began with a weather problem. Donald Dayton, who ran Minneapolis-based Dayton's department stores, commissioned a study that found Minnesota gets just 126 "ideal shopping weather" days a year. In 1952, he and designer Victor Gruen unveiled plans for an enclosed, weatherproofed mall, the first in the nation.

The mall itself was only the center of the plan. The Dayton Corporation bought 500 acres in Edina. Gruen drew the mall as the core of a new development with apartment buildings, houses, a medical center, a park and a lake. The Minnesota Star Tribune describes Gruen's idea of Southdale as a public plaza meant to counter the isolation of car-focused suburbs, an attempt to bring a European streetscape indoors.

Most of the larger vision never got built. The medical center opened in 1965. The corporation sold the rest of the land for housing, and Gruen eventually came to detest shopping malls and the sprawl that followed them. So the Southdale that opened in 1956 had 72 stores, two anchors in Dayton's and Donaldson's, and 5,000 free parking spaces sorted into lots marked with animal symbols. It was a shopping center surrounded by parking, the very thing its designer had hoped to avoid.

What Opening Day Had, and What the Site Has Now

The 1956 mall did carry some of Gruen's everyday-life idea inside its walls. The original tenants included a Red Owl grocery, a post office, a bank, a barber, Walgreens and Woolworth. The central "town square" had a huge skylight, a fishpond and eucalyptus trees, and a skating rink and a zoo, home to a chimp named Zsa Zsa, gave visitors reasons to stay.

Over the decades, most of that fell away. In 2011, Ralph's Shoe Service, the last original tenant, closed. Set the 1956 list beside the property as it stands in 2026, and the matches line up almost item for item.

The Star Tribune's July 19, 2026 feature on the redevelopment states the parallel outright. It says the new version of the mall "brings back the mixed-use, community-oriented elements its groundbreaking architect envisioned." Gruen's lost apartments now stand on land his client once owned. His grocery store is back, a few hundred feet from where the food court used to be.

Why the Ordinary Additions Carry the Most Weight

Owner Simon Property Group has spent about $400 million on Southdale since 2012. Most of the headlines went to the luxury wing, which was finished when Tiffany & Co. opened this spring and also holds Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Moncler and David Yurman.

The routine additions explain more about how the place works now. Life Time founder and CEO Bahram Akradi told the Star Tribune that he once turned down the idea of opening at Southdale. At the time it had some of the highest vacancy rates of any regional mall in the Twin Cities. He later called it an "A site" selling a "D product." He then approached Simon's leadership with a proposal to take over an empty anchor space as part of a mixed-use redevelopment, and he also suggested that Kowalski's look for a spot there.

Mall representatives told the paper that Life Time, Kowalski's, the restaurants and the movie theater have kept Southdale open later. With the apartments and hotel, the property is occupied around the clock. Their argument is that people who come for a workout or groceries end up as shoppers too. That is close to what Gruen hoped a town square would do in 1956.

The traffic figures support that argument. Placer.ai foot-traffic data gathered in spring 2026 showed visits up nearly 30% from 2019. Other Minnesota malls have gone the opposite way. The Star Tribune notes that Burnsville and Maplewood went through bankruptcy and foreclosure. Familiar names are returning too. A shopper interviewed for the feature said the mall has gotten noticeably busier since Abercrombie & Fitch came back in 2025.

The Next Piece Opens to the Street

Smithson is the latest addition, and it fits the same pattern. The steak-and-seafood restaurant comes from Randy and Sharon Stanley, who also own Baldamar in Roseville and 6Smith. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine reported in August that Chris Dmochowski is executive chef and that the menu centers on aged prime and Wagyu beef with seafood specialties. The restaurant's site says the steaks are aged forty days.

According to the Star Tribune, Smithson will have both a mall entrance and its own exterior entrance. That puts it among the businesses that keep the property busy after the stores close. Shea, the design firm behind the space, describes a 13-foot entrance that opens onto Carrara marble, bronze accents, leather paneling and rift-cut white oak. As of October 3, Smithson's own site still says "Arriving October 2026" without a specific opening day. The restaurant is slated to open this month, so check before you plan a dinner around it.

Dining is changing elsewhere in the mall as well. The Star Tribune reported that the Cheesecake Factory, which has been at Southdale for more than 20 years, is preparing for an update.

Two Saturdays to See the Before and After

Southdale is marking the anniversary at Center Court on two Saturdays, October 3 and October 10, from noon to 4 p.m. Both days include a historical exhibit, photo stations, a DJ, a giant anniversary cake display and complimentary cupcakes. Several retailers are setting up pop-ups at Center Court. CAMP will have a prize wheel, Drybar will offer free dry styling and touch-ups, and JD Sports will have giveaways at its table.

The historical exhibit is the best way to see the 1956 garden court and the 2026 property side by side. If you're there for the exhibit, these stops on the same visit make up the rest of the table above:

• Kowalski's, in the former food court, for the grocery role Red Owl once filled
• Life Time, the fitness club its own founder once said Southdale didn't fit
• The luxury wing, finished this spring with Tiffany & Co.
• Puttshack and the pickleball courts, today's version of the skating rink

The second celebration runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 10, at Center Court.

If you live near the France Avenue corridor and want to talk about how Southdale's changes fit with your own plans for the years ahead, Kami Gerald would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.