The Sears in St. Paul is still closed, but its parking lot has a life of its own

The Rice Street Sears store in St. Paul is years away from development, but that doesn’t mean the site is lying dormant.

Instead, the owners of the vacant department store near the Capitol are trying to make the parking lot as lively as possible and build a little goodwill in the process.

“We provide it at no cost for any good cause,” John Yang said. “We feel the way we provide support for the community now, they will provide support for us after the project is done.”

The building is closed, but the parking lot is open, and well-used almost every day of the week.

“We weren’t looking to make money,” Yang said. “We were looking to see how we could elevate our community.”

Most weekdays, future school bus drivers learn to operate the yellow behemoths. Motorcycle license classes see drivers maneuvering around another corner of the lot.

Bicycle races occupied part of the parking lot for a few evenings in June and July. A company held a skills contest for firefighters earlier this summer. Artists often make use of the space for photo and video shoots. On Saturday, a protest against the presidential administration took over the lot.

“Anything that can elevate our community, we do our best to provide that space,” Yang said.

And the parking lot is also used for, well, parking. Construction workers and state office staff pay for parking spots at the Sears, which sits just across Rice Street from the under-construction State Office Building.

The site may appear under-utilized, but the parking lot is booked almost every day, Yang said.

“It’s very diverse, in terms of the events that are happening at the parking lot,” Yang said. Though the Asian American Business Resilience Network is focused on Asian American entrepreneurs, he said he wants to make sure the Sears site has something for people from different backgrounds, with different interests — something for everyone.

When it was built in 1963, the Sears on Rice Street offered something for everyone, too. Residents from across St. Paul bought clothes and appliances. People patronized the auto repair center and renewed their driver’s licenses at the DMV office in the store.

St. Paul officials loved the idea, hoping Sears’ expansion could offset the closure of the downtown Macy’s. But those plans never materialized.

When the Sears closed in 2019 amid the company’s bankruptcy, the emptiness in that corner of St. Paul was jarring. It has now been empty for six years, adding to the feeling of desolation near the Capitol and in parts of downtown St. Paul.

The property sold to a holding company associated with Sears, and then to another real estate group in 2023 for $7 million.

The Asian American Business Resilience Network bought the building and the parking lot for $8.2 million in 2023.

Yang and his partners have high hopes for the Sears site, but he said the group is hoping for significant public investment before construction can start.

But it has become more difficult for the Legislature to pass bonding bills with a 60% majority needed. And a challenging budget on the horizon has dimmed the hopes for funding much more high-profile projects, including money to upgrade St. Paul’s NHL arena.

Still, the owners of the Sears site have high hopes. Plans include a market, housing, indoor sports fields, and the group is considering building a hotel, or purchasing the Radisson now for sale next door.

Even if state money is not available, the property’s location could mean subsidies in the form of tax credits. The Sears site sits in an opportunity zone, and a “qualified census tract” that opens up the possibility of low-income housing tax credits and other financing.

Ramsey County is also set to reconstruct Rice Street in the coming years, and the corridor will eventually be part of the Metro Transit G Line bus rapid transit, which will run from Little Canada to West St. Paul, through St. Paul’s North End, downtown and West Side — and right past the Sears.

It’s all a lot of waiting, but Yang said sharing the parking lot is one way to activate a long-dormant space in the core of St. Paul, and build momentum for what’s to come.