The future of Macy's in Downtown Minneapolis

The future of Macy's in Downtown Minneapolis looks bright.

Nerves were running wild for the past few months. Sources were beginning to grow weary of the future of the Downtown Minneapolis Macy's location on Nicollet Mall especially after the closure of Downtown St. Paul's Macy's location. Were the days of Downtown Minneapolis' Macy's location also numbered? Was the biggest downtown retailer about to leave a gapping gap in the downtown retail world? Those questions were answered last week.

Macy's is staying and it's likely that it will become better than ever before in the near future.

Last Wednesday Macy's released a public statement regarding their third-quarter results. With the statement they released the locations in which they consider a "flagship real estate asset." Among the list were Manhattan's Herald Square location (which just went under a $400 million renovation), Chicago's State Street, San Francisco's Union Square, and Minneapolis' Nicollet Mall location.

That's big news. Here's why.

Dayton's, the original department store located in the Macy's space (NPR)

What this news means is that Macy's is looking towards the future for these locations. The company is looking to future and preparing now by beginning the planning phases of what the future will hold for these locations. Macy's is looking to form joint ventures with real estate partners in order for redevelopment to occur of these four locations and potentially other locations across the country that take up a large footprint. The idea behind the redevelopment is to keep various Macy's stores prominent (in almost all cases the plan actually includes making them MORE prominent than they currently are) while bring alternative uses to the buildings.

If you're not already aware, the locations that were deemed flagship locations are some of the Macy's largest. Macy's Herald Square location in New York City alone encompasses an entire city block, stands 10 1/2 stories tall, and covers over 2 million square feet of retail space. Needless to say, it's a behemoth.

Currently in Minneapolis Macy's owns three buildings. All located in the 700 block of Nicollet Mall their real estate includes over 1 million square feet of space dating back to 1902. That's about the a fifth of the size of Mall of America or roughly two-thirds of the size of the IDS Center (Minneapolis' tallest skyscraper).

THE FUTURE

What's next for Downtown Minneapolis' Macy's location?

To be honest... at the moment the world really doesn't know and only time will tell. However there are a few predictions that can be made.

The first is a renovation of the current Macy's store. With Macy's being flagged as a flagship it is likely that a restructuring of the store will take place. Space most likely will be consolidated, streamlined, and spaced added/taken away in various areas. The whole idea in this case would be to consolidate the number of floors Macy's actually utilizes in the space in order to make more contiguous spaces available for lease.

If this were to occur not only would it result in a new sparkling and gleaming location for Macy's but it would also result in more continuous space becoming available that would be more likely to be leased by companies for office space or retail space.

The second thing that would likely to occur as a result of a restructuring and renovation... an entirely new use. It wouldn't surprise us if we saw new retailers pop-up within former space of Macy's (if space were to be made available on the lowest levels of the building). Upper levels would most likely become offices or even potentially hotel space.

Space within the project also could be available for residential use. We all know how Minneapolis' Downtown residential population is exploding. More housing is always needed it seems.

Let's be clear though from the start, there's bound to be a new side of Macy's Downtown Minneapolis location that emerges in the future. What exactly is included in that future is unclear at the moment. As always, we'll keep you updated right here at The Development Tracker | Minneapolis.