Macy's Inc. said Thursday it plans to retool its two store spaces at Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka by closing one and enlarging the other.
The Cincinnati-based retailer, which just announced it is closing its store in St. Paul, said it will expand its 202,000-square-foot women's and children's store at Ridgedale by 84,000 square feet, and, once that's done, consolidate the separate men's and home store into the newly enlarged mall anchor. Occupancy is expected by early 2014.
For now, it is unclear what retailer would fill the 129,000-square-foot space left behind by Macy's consolidation at Ridgedale. In 2009, Seattle-based Nordstrom, which has a single Twin Cities store at the Mall of America and two off-price Rack stores at the megamall and in Maple Grove, had an agreement to open a store at Ridgedale. But the deal ultimately soured.
In addition to the fizzled Nordstrom deal, plans for a new Trader Joe's grocery store stalled in 2008, and the store opened at a different Minnetonka location instead.
Ridgedale's owner, mall operator General Growth Properties, filed for bankruptcy in April 2009 -- then the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history. About a year later, General Growth emerged from bankruptcy.
Despite the failed deal at Ridgedale a few years ago, Nordstrom has been looking to expand in the Twin Cities since opening its Mall of America store in 1992.
When asked if Nordstrom is interested in the Ridgedale Macy's space, spokesman Colin Johnson declined to comment. "We would like to do a better job taking care of our customers in Minneapolis and St. Paul," he said. "We have been really pleased with our stores there."
General Growth, the Chicago real estate investment trust that owns 126 regional malls nationwide, including five in Minnesota, did not respond to calls for comment Thursday.
