Thanks for sharing!Kmart has shrunk so much over the years and they have been hacking away at any and all underperforming stores it is unlikely that they had any plans to work on this... Kmart had become Big Kmart in the late 1990's through about 2002. The investments then were considered a Hail Mary pass... they have closed many of those "newer" stores all across the country - so they are really more concerned about supporting the stores with the best sales. The negotiating that is going on is about how the Kmart on Lake has had no investment in decades but it is generating decent sales - what they want is to leverage their current position to get the city to "invest" in updating and including their store in the master plans. They don't have a great negotiating position as they don't own the property... but they do have a 50 year lease with the property owners which has some negotiating advantages... Kmart tried to throw a twist into this project last year when they claimed that when the city started calling that block "blighted" they were making a statement about the Kmart brand and were causing them harm... But from a legal point of view a judge would throw that out very quickly. So they seem to have dropped that strategy, at least for now.
In 2013 Kmart operated 1,221 stores with today's number at 989 almost 20% of all stores closed in 2 years alone. It sure would be a shame if Kmart is apart of the redevelopment and gets a design specific building only to close up shop within a year or two after. Somehow I think all roads leave to Kmart doing exactly that and leaving one final trolling act before making their grand exit out of the Twin Cities.
Imagine Kmart making the internet blog lists of Minneapolis's biggest blunders twice! hip hop granny would surly be getting the last laugh.