What winds up on the site of the soon-to-be-closed downtown St. Paul Macy's store may be a far bigger surprise than the fact the store is closing at all.
It could be some other kind of retailer not quite so large, a Kohl's or Herberger's or maybe even (a best-case scenario for many) a downtown Target to match the one in Minneapolis.
It could give rise to a number of boutique stores to replace the merchandise and services that Macy's offered, or maybe provide the setting for an office tower with street-level retail.
While little was clear Thursday about the future of the Macy's site, Mayor Chris Coleman said that downtown St. Paul is better positioned now to absorb the store's loss and convert it into a gain than it was in 2001, when the mayor and City Council members -- including Coleman -- gave Dayton's a $6.3 million forgivable loan to stay open through 2012.
"You've really got a vibrant mix in downtown that we didn't have a decade ago, when the decision was made to help Dayton's stay open," he said. "We had only a couple of eggs in only a couple of baskets."
Now, the mayor said, downtown St. Paul is attracting more residents than ever, visitors have a number of good restaurants and bars to choose from, and a light-rail line will open next year "with a stop right at [Macy's] front door."
So Coleman said that forgivable loan turned out to be a bridge taking downtown from days when it could ill afford to lose a major retailer, to today when he said the site has never been more appealing.
Other downtown leaders echoed Coleman's analysis Thursday, saying that while the store closing is a shame, it gives the city a chance to better tailor downtown to address modern urban lifestyles.