Hwy. 13 between Cedar Avenue and Rahn Road, Eagan

Type: Retail Gross leasable area: 408,000 square feet Site: 24.5 acres Developer: Paragon Outlet Partners

Details: Eagan officials this week issued their first set of approvals for the Paragon Outlets of Cedar Grove, a 100-store, open-air example of a new generation of outlet mall to be built at the Cedar Grove redevelopment site near the intersection of Hwy. 13 and Cedar Avenue (Hwy. 77).

The Eagan Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously recommended the City Council approve a preliminary planned unit development as well as the rezoning and comprehensive plan changes necessary to move ahead with the Paragon project, whose design details were examined for the first time.

R. Kelvin Antill, development partner for Baltimore-based Paragon Outlet Partners, told commission members leasing activity for the estimated $100 million outlet mall is going well, comparing it to two similar upscale malls the company has built this year in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Livermore, Calif.

The Texas mall, already open, and the California mall, opening within weeks, are 100 percent leased, he said.

"The Grand Prairie opening drew large crowds and featured record-setting performances," he said. "The Nike store there did $200,000 in sales in two hours."

The plans unveiled by the company showed a "racetrack" design in which the storefronts face inward around open-air pedestrian concourses -- some of which are partially covered by canopies -- and will feature a pair of iconic, 54-foot pylon tower-signs.

The six buildings will sport horizontal bands of white and off-white synthetic stucco on the upper portions with brick and cast stone along the bases, while also tapping a variety of architectural elements such as pilasters, cultured stone, glass storefronts and spandrel glass.

Antill said Paragon is aiming for a fall 2014 opening.

The measures now move to the Eagan City Council, which is set to take them up Nov. 20.

Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.