4:38 PM | Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Brooklyn Center’s so-called Opportunity Site has been discussed for redevelopment for the better part of two decades. Projects have been proposed. Proposals have fallen through.
Now a new concept plan has come forward that has city leaders optimistic about the possibilities.
“It is a huge, huge undertaking,” said Brooklyn Center City Council Member Dan Jerzak about the proposal at the city’s July 27 economic development authority meeting. “It could be monumentally game-changing for the city.”
The Opportunity Site is an 80-acre area west of Highway 100, east of Shingle Creek Parkway, and between Bass Lake Road and Summit Drive. The city has long envisioned creating a new walkable downtown for the area.
Now a relatively new development group, Minneapolis-based Novarum Development Partners, is putting its ideas into the large site.
While new, Novarum says its team has more than 50 years of experience collectively in entrepreneurship. Its partners include Minneapolis-based RiverNorth Development Partners and DJR Architecture. The group is behind the large-scale redevelopment of the vacant 24-acre Wells Fargo Home Mortgage campus in Minneapolis.
Novarum said it specializes in “repositioning underutilized properties into vibrant, mixed-use destinations.” Its vision for Brooklyn Center is to have a community of owners transform the area with the company making sure design guidelines are followed.
“Instead of a community of renters, we would have a community of urban owners,” said Dean Devolis, CEO of Novarum.
Novarum concept plan for Brooklyn Center Opportunity Site includes a waterway running through mixed-use development.
Development with ‘A Thousand Hands’
Ian Alexander, Brooklyn Center’s economic development manager, said at the July 27 meeting that Novarum has worked on the concept with the city over the past couple months.
“They’re looking at doing some pretty innovative work in the the city,” said Alexander.
That concept calls for mixed-use planning that offers dense owner-occupied housing, retail and green space. The Novarum proposal features a waterway flowing through the development as a main feature, taking advantage of the area’s high water table.
What makes it innovative, according to Dovolis and Alexander, is the project isn’t meant to have a single developer, but many, especially with the housing component that could bring in hundreds of prospective homeowners.
“The idea instead of a single hand putting all this together, could be a thousand hands creating this,” said Dovolis.”Basically, hopefully, by the residents of the city investing, putting money into it.”
According to Dovolis, property owners would be given a set amount of time to build to avoid land speculation. An HOA would manage upkeep of the green space.
Financing of the overall project would be done through a public-private partnership.
Overall, feedback from city leaders on the concept, has been positive.
“For someone to come in and just to get people to buy in that we can have nice things in this city, that we can have ownership and have opportunities is very encouraging to hear,” said Brooklyn Center City Council Member Taneshia Kragness.
Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves said she believes the concept offers the right approach.
“You’re thinking not just what to build in the physical sense, but what’s being built on a cultural level as well,” said Graves. “And I think that’s extremely important and could be extremely beneficial and yes, a game-changer for our city.”
More specific details on the concept are expected to come forward this fall.
Also see: Brooklyn Center Development Concept Would Build Sports Complex on Vacant Target Site