With an uncertain future, HarMar tenants wonder what to do next

Since 2014, Mark Abbott and Mary O’Rourke have managed their storefront, MO’R Designs, out of HarMar Mall in Roseville.

The couple sells rock-related items, such as jewelry, crystals and fossils, and have been in business since the 1990s. While business has declined at the mall, it has also meant the rent the couple pays for their storefront has not significantly gone up, either.

Still, Abbott said they’ve been considering relocating due to uncertainty at HarMar. Around two-thirds of storefronts in the mall sit empty. It’s a tough decision — rents for many other storefront locations are not tenable for small-business owners, and their store is completely dependent on foot traffic, he said. Sales can also be expected to drop after a move, Abbott added.

Mark Abbott, owner of MO’R Designs at HarMar Mall in Roseville, talks about the challenges he faces in a mall that gets very little foot traffic, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) “The year after COVID was our best year ever because I think everybody had to get out of the house and do something,” Abbott said. “Since then, it’s been declining 10, 15% per year.”

Only about 19 out of 58 mall storefronts are listed as occupied on HarMar’s online directory. Some customers are intimidated about visiting due to the lack of stores and others struggle to find them, O’Rourke said. Extra signage for their business would be several thousand dollars a month, Abbott estimates.

“It’s hard to say if they let it deteriorate too much,” O’Rourke said. “It’s reached a point where a lot of people have written HarMar off their list.”

A new owner

Texas-based real estate investment company Fidelis Realty Partners bought HarMar Mall in 2022 for $50.25 million, according to a filing on record with the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

Based outside of Houston, Fidelis is one of Texas’ largest commercial real estate companies, with a long-standing focus on shopping plazas and strip malls in Texas and other corners of the South. Fidelis purchased the mall from Gateway Washington Inc. of Los Angeles.

Site plans for the mall obtained by the Pioneer Press show plans to demolish some of the mall for additional parking and the addition of a roundabout, restaurant and other free-standing retail spaces.

In the four years since its purchase, officials with Fidelis have been reticent about publicly sharing their plans for the mall. In emails with Fidelis, obtained by the Pioneer Press through a data request, Roseville officials repeatedly encourage those with Fidelis to engage with the community while it’s still early enough to adjust their plans.

“Do you have a plan and/or timeline to hold a neighborhood meeting? Rumors are already plentiful so the sooner you can engage, the better,” said Janice Gundlach, Roseville community development director, in a June 10 email to Fidelis officials after media reports of a “full scrape and rebuild” of the mall.

“I’ve been asked to hold off on community engagement as we are still navigating tenancy issues,” said Chuck Luedemann, Fidelis’ vice president of development, in response. “Our team doesn’t want to lose leverage with tenants nor misrepresent tenancy to the community.”

Though the majority of the mall’s storefronts sit empty, officials with Fidelis are not currently leasing space to anyone, according to emails between Fidelis and Roseville city planners.

Empty storefronts and quiet hallways are the new normal at HarMar Mall in Roseville, seen on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reported in 2022 that the 446,000-square-foot mall, located on more than 48 acres of land, was about 83% occupied.

Potential redevelopment plans also have been held up by discussions with Cub Foods, according to the emails.

“Please keep in mind that there could be significant changes if we are forced to terminate Cub’s lease to get their approval for the redevelopment,” said Sara Martin, executive vice president of JLL Brokerage Services, in a June 2025 email. “If we have to do that, we would need to work on a larger user for the back of the site and that could take many shapes.”

Officials with Cub said in an Oct. 10 statement that the grocery store currently plans to remain a tenant at the mall.

“As Minnesota’s hometown grocer for more than 50 years, we remain focused on providing great value and reliable service to the communities we serve every day,” Cub officials said in the statement.

The city of Roseville’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan and zoning code sets the HarMar property as mixed use, which may include commercial, office, civic, parks and medium- to high-density residential properties.

Fidelis’ Luedemann and JLL’s Martin did not respond to calls from the Pioneer Press seeking further comment on plans for the mall.

“We have been very resistant to talking with the media due to Cub’s uncertainty,” Martin wrote in a June 22 email to Roseville officials.

HarMar was constructed in the early 1960s and named after founder Harold J. Slawik and his wife, Marie.

Independent owners

In response to COVID, and potentially concerns with shoplifting, many stores at the mall began keeping their interior doors closed around five years ago, said Abbott of MO’R Designs. That has required shoppers to exit the mall and enter the stores through their exterior doors rather than visit store to store as they had in the past. M’OR Designs has seen fewer customers in the store and fewer sales in that time, he said.

The craft and hobby store Michaels has locked the doors to the inner part of HarMar Mall in Roseville on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) Though concerns with shoplifting have improved, it’s still unclear why stores have remained closed off from inside the mall, Abbott said.

The couple have heard secondhand stories about plans for the mall, though some have never come to fruition. Lack of local representation for Fidelis also makes information harder to come by.

In late 2022, Abbott attempted to see his lease for the upcoming year, but was never provided one. He assumes the owners weren’t renewing leases in case they wanted to redevelop the mall and still sends in his rent check each month.

“And assume that they’ll give me 30 days (notice),” Abbott said.