As golfers whacked balls onto a new green, Brooklyn Center Mayor Tim Willson sat nearby, thought of Dubai and allowed himself a grin.
Topgolf, the high-tech, all-season driving range and entertainment hub, picked Brooklyn Center for the company's first Minnesota location, handing city leaders like Willson major bragging rights among its suburban neighbors. How many of them can say they have an attraction soon to come to Dubai?
On a warm September night the mayor sipped cranberry juice, toured the sleek new facility and savored a victory that some see as part of a broader turnaround for the north metro city.
"Twelve years ago, I couldn't get a developer to talk to me," Willson said. "Brooklyn Center did not have a good image."
A dogged reputation as a high-crime city has been tough for it to shake, even as police tout some of the lowest crime rates in years and total crimes have dropped more than 40 percent since 2007.
But as development heats up and home buyers pounce on the first-ring suburb's affordable real estate, city officials say it's time to tackle perception problems head-on.
And hopes are high that Topgolf, which opened last month, will galvanize efforts to trumpet the city's new momentum.
Once defined by the Brookdale mall, most of which was torn down in 2011, Brooklyn Center is ripe for a fresh image, city officials say.