Long before Nordstrom opened at Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka, the site was farmland, light industry, and open fields. By 1974, it had become a two-level enclosed mall with just over one million square feet of retail space.
Today, some of the original parking spaces are a city park with a skating rink. The former Sears site now holds a 35-foot climbing wall and an indoor batting cage.
The mall stands off I-394 in Minnetonka, about a mile from I-494. That location helped shape the center and gave it a steady flow of drivers from more than one direction…