The idea of creating an upscale regional mall on the  cleared during urban renewal just one block east of Granby Street had remained in the minds of Norfolk's economic development officials for many years; at one point, vice mayor, and later judge, Joseph Jordan proposed an enormous, enclosed shopping center to be known as Norfolk Gardens, so elaborate as to include indoor amusement park rides, presaging the development years later of Bloomington, Minnesota's Mall of America.
For many years, Norfolk's economic development officials had envisioned a luxurious regional mall on the recently cleared land just east of Granby Street; in one instance, vice mayor and later judge Joseph Jordan proposed an enormous, enclosed shopping center called Norfolk Gardens, which would include elaborate indoor amusement park rides, a concept that would later be realized in Bloomington, Minnesota's Mall of America.