Changes Requested in Plans for Sears Site
The latest plans for the former Sears store in Hillcrest were ordered revised Tuesday after the committee studying new uses for the 12-acre site learned that the plans would bring the city $2.8 million less than it paid for the parcel.
The city paid $9 million for the site last year with the intention of using it for a new central library, an idea that was rejected by the City Council in December.
The plans by consultants that were reviewed Tuesday by the Sears Site Review Committee would bring in just $6.2 million.
Architect Gerald Gast and consultant Larry Williams were instructed to jettison less profitable portions of the mixed-use plan they presented Tuesday--such as housing for the elderly--and increase land values by increasing the amount of space devoted to lucrative retail stores and private homes.
The goal is to bring the city $10 million from the sale of five parcels of land at the site while using the land for purposes compatible with community sentiment, committee members said. The city will pay out about $1 million more to improve the site and cover interest payments.
Will ‘Go for a Mix’
“We will try to go for a mix (of retail stores) that will not glut the neighborhood,” said Yvonne Larsen, chairwoman of the committee appointed by the City Council to study uses of the site on Cleveland Avenue near University Avenue. “We still want a project that will be good for the community.”
But merchants in the neighborhoods surrounding the large, vacant Sears store may not like the new plans.
Gast and Williams were told to propose using more than 80,000 square feet of the parcel for a “neighborhood retail center,” even though that will mean siphoning business from existing stores, according to a report they wrote earlier this year. One suggestion was that they devote 120,000 square feet to retail space.
The city’s need for a higher sale price became apparent Tuesday, when Williams presented his analysis of the profits the city would receive by slicing up the site and selling parcels to developers. They would use the land for retail stores, housing for the elderly, private homes, rental housing and a public community center.
Williams’ three alternatives would bring the city just $5.77 million, $6.09 million or $6.22 million.
Profitable Options
The consultants also proposed options that would combine land sales and 50-year land leases, alternatives that would be substantially more profitable for the city. By choosing that strategy, the city could earn between $8.93 million and $11.48 million from the site, projections showed.
But the council is counting on receiving $9 million from the sale this year, and has included the sum in its capital improvement budget, said James Spotts, the city’s property director. For that reason, most committee members agreed that any plan including a 50-year lease would be rejected by the council.
Spotts also said that the city has three offers from developers to buy the entire 12-acre parcel for $9.85 million, $9.9 million and $10.3 million. But each developer would use the entire site for 175,000 square feet of retail space.
“If you impose on that property a 175,000-square-foot shopping center, then that development would have a negative impact on surrounding businesses--without question,” Williams said.
The consultants were told to draw up plans that would increase retail space from their proposed 80,000 square feet and add more private housing. They will also consider the possibility of including more densely packed housing.
To make way for those changes, plans for 75 housing units for the elderly would be dropped because government subsidies for such housing are difficult to obtain, and the number of rental housing units may be decreased. The 9,600-square-foot community center would be retained.
Gast and Williams will present sale and lease options to the committee Sept. 21. The committee is seeking to forward its recommendations to the council in time for a decision before new members take their seats after the November election.
