Sears is shopping a plan to build a major development west of the State Capitol that would keep its existing store and build additional retail space along with townhouses, apartments and offices.
The development would occupy the north half of Sears' 17-acre site, most of it made up of large parking lots surrounding the 50-year-old store.
Cecile Bedor, St. Paul's planning and economic development director, said she believes Sears' development interests are tied to arrival of the Central Corridor light-rail line, which has a station on Rice Street a block north of the site. Trains will begin running on the line next year.
"This has been a development opportunity for years, and [Sears] is a savvy landowner," she said.
She added that Sears has not asked for city assistance.
Howard Riefs, public relations director for Chicago-based Sears Holdings Corp., declined to provide details.
"We continually assess how to best leverage our real-estate holdings and are in the early stages of discussion regarding a project on the Rice Street property that will continue to have a Sears store presence," he said. "We will have additional information to share in the coming weeks."
While the Sears site is up the hill and across the freeway from downtown St. Paul, the company's plans come as welcome news at a time when the city has learned it will lose its Macy's store this year, leaving downtown without a department store for the first time in more than a century.
