A lot of rumbling on Facebook the other day about St. Cloud, after someone posted a picture of a crane outside Crossroads Center Mall. The big question of course being;

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Why is a crane outside Crossroads Mall?

Really great question. Especially since it was announced recently that the mall is in quite a bit of debt and owes about $83 million on their mortgage, which is owed by April. More on that story here.

That is not why there was a crane outside of the mall. A picture shared to Quirky Minnesota Places, by David Ruedy has been shared by over 200 people as of this moment already. In the picture it shows a pile of snow with a crane holding more snow above it and a person standing on top of the hill, as seen here:

Initially he wrote that they were "removing snow with a crane at Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud, MN". Which confused many, and having several comment; doesn't that seem a little inefficient?

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The post was later changed to reflect that they were actually using the crane to remove snow from the roof of Crossroads Mall and not from the actually parking lot. But the crane outside the mall initially confused a lot of people. Robert R. also took to St. Cloud, MN Area Community Page asking "Does anyone know what is going on at Crossroads mall?"

Not surprised to see the mall having snow removed from the roof, after Miller Hill Mall in Duluth had their roof collapse from snow a couple weeks ago. No one else wants to see that happen. It's unfortunately what can happen in Minnesota, especially with a flat roof and a lot of snow piled on top that doesn't get removed.

But apparently this isn't the first time the snow has been removed this season. If one commenter is to believed among the many, Chad C. wrote:

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It happens all season long. We use the tarps to cover over our working area at night prior to a snowfall for easy removal.

Perhaps this was just the first time people really took note of the crane in the parking lot? I'm not fully sure, but I do know if you were wondering, like many, what the crane was doing at the mall. It was just doing Minnesota things, getting rid of snow from a roof.