urbanMSP

I would view the parking as a place holder for Phase II development. If Phase I works well, develop the parking. If not, sell it off. No reason for them to commit now if they aren't planning on building now.

Love the idea of housing facing [s]Uni[/s] Aurora and Marion, but extremely disappointed that >60% of the area remains surface parking with no street grid to guide future, non-superblock development. Sears doesn't use that parking now and they likely won't use more after the addition of a ramp. I guess I'm not surprised about them not wanting to sell off any land, but there should be clear language in St. Paul comp plan about recreating normal sized blocks.

Yeah but... you can't reconnect any of the streets without tearing down some of the building or going through property that isn't theirs... I think they have made some pretty obvious E/W thoroughfares to try to make up for that.

I'm real excited for this. If they are successful I think we could see that SW section get developed.

I used to live basically in the League of MN Cities parking lot (ok, other side of Sherburne). This is very, very exciting stuff for that area. Has anything been proposed for the old Greyhound property on Uni there? Or the part of Saxon Ford on the NE corner of Uni/Marion? Gosh, I can't believe that car dealership was still open when I first moved there! That was like 2002-3

The latest render, view from the south side.

YES! I saw that they hinted at playing up the mid century retro mod facade of the original building, and this just makes it that much better!

Some more details revealed.

http://finance-commerce.com/2013/01/st- ... ould-grow/

St. Paul Sears development could grow
Posted: 4:42 pm Tue, January 8, 2013
By Drew Kerr

"...redevelopment may eventually extend to the south end of the company’s 14-acre lot, now home to more than 700 parking spaces.
The redevelopment would likely emerge only after plans to add more retail, housing and office space around the Sears building are realized, and it remains uncertain what future uses may be proposed..."

"...The hope is to build out the retail space first, followed by the office building and the parking garage. Housing would be built as part of a third phase..."

Good news, however I could only think that additional housing right around the corner could only help make the new retail more successful... It's not exactly a super dense neighborhood with a large disposable income around there. The housing would be successful with the Green Line so close and retail around the corner, office space could come second in my mind, but I don't know if maybe the state gov. needs more space?

Don't most state agencies seem more eager to make the hop across the freeway trench and lease out existing cheap space in the CBD? I'd rather see the housing come first as well.

The office and retail are probably the bigger money makers for this project. More retail stores should bring more customers to the existing store. I doubt the office tenants will be government. More likely firms that need to be located near the various gov agencies and legislature. At least that's my hope, I'd hate to see more gov tenants flee downtown to this new space.

I like the idea of housing here. But given the area and the likely rents they'll get, it's probably just being added as a small bonus.

Lets not forget that the majority of the parking there is used by people who work in the nearby governed buildings.

My wife works for a not-to-be-named government entity near the Capitol, and this agency has an entire block with a two-story building and a half block of parking provided free of charge to employees. Do most agencies provide free parking to their employees? Seems like this should go.

Do most agencies provide free parking to their employees?

The city agency I work for (when not posting on this board) actually refuses to participate in Metropass because they provide free parking. That is the actual justification they use. Don't forget that the average age at most of these agencies is barely shy of retirement.

As much as I don't like the idea of the residential being built as Phase 3 (because I worry it might not happen), I can see why Sears would want to do that.

This is a pretty low rent area. It sounds like they are trying to fetch market rate rents, as we haven't heard anything about subsidy yet. This area certainly doesn't need any more affordable housing, it's got plenty, and that's part of the problem. Waiting for the LRT to begin operation and getting the new retail up and humming will make it much more likely that they can attract market rate rents. I don't think they'll be commanding anything like what new places Uptown/Downtown are going for, but I wouldn't expect any less than $900 for a 1BR. It will help that the land acquisition costs are zero.

While it'll be nice to see that Sears wants to redevelop this area, I think the project is a bit short sighted. The Sears site has huge potential to become a commercial destination with a high-end residential component. If done right, they could have a 2-3 condo or residential towers along Rice Street which range from 10-15 stories and a beautiful pedestrian oriented retail development.

I hope the city sends them back to the drawing board and has them come up with something that's worthy of being so close to the capitol.

I seriously doubt 250+ people would pay the kind of rent required to make two or more 10 story apartments at all financially feasible. Not at Marion and University. Private developers are not willing to risk six story stick construction downtown. I love the Sears proposal even if the phase three residential stuff isn't realized until after 2015.

I guess it's a good thing to have surplus parking lots in urban areas after all...

It looks like the giant Sears asphalt garden between 94 and the store is being used as a staging/storage ground for electric utilities responding to last weekend's storm. There were probably a hundred trucks under floodlights, and it was quite the sight to see.

Same as the strip mall on HWY 55 and Winnetka Ave in Golden Valley... pretty crazy!

The article is behind a paywall, but glad to see this is still alive!
http://finance-commerce.com/2013/10/sea ... paul-site/

It looked like they were setting up a tower crane at the new parking ramp by the Transportation Building (across Rice Street from Sears) when I went by yesterday. Forgot to check again this morning.

Did a little digging and came across this render of the Sears redevelopment project. It appears to be the office building at the corner of Rice and Aurora with the proposed apartments on the ride side of the image.



Not sure what corner this is.