Sears building at Town Plaza may be razed

The Sears store on William Street has been a staple of the Town Plaza Shopping Center since it opened. But when the department store relocates to the city's west side later this year, the 43-year-old Sears building may be demolished to make way for a new tenant, according to the St. Charles real estate company that owns the property.

"Really it runs the gamut as far as what we're going to do," said Kent Evans, vice president of Greater Missouri Builders, which has owned the Town Plaza since 1972. "We're exploring the possibilities of filling the current building or tearing down part of the building and utilizing the rest or even tearing down the entire building."

Evans said that the company is talking to several possible retail tenants who are interested in the spot, although there are currently no leases signed. He thinks that the location still has some strong selling points.

"It's a great spot," Evans said last week from his St. Charles, Mo., office. "It's still the second-highest traffic count in Cape Girardeau and it's still in the heart of town."

The Sears building at 2102 William St. is about 80,000 square feet, he said.

He said he is stymied from getting a lease signed because Sears is still leasing the space. He said they have not been informed when Sears will be moving into his new Sears Grand space on Siemers Drive.

As far as tearing the building down, he said that's only one option.

"When you're a developer and the shopping center owner, you look at all possibilities," he said. "I don't view it as a static building that you have to fit somebody into. If we're tearing a building down and building a new building, have to be for a specific tenant, have to have a certain rent that would justify doing that kind of expenditure."

It may be that the market doesn't allow for that type of tenant, he said.

"If not, we'll look at utilizing the building in a lot of different ways," he said. "It may be one tenant, it may turn out that we have three or four or five tenants there. It's really flexible."

While Sears was a great tenant, Evans said, it's too bad they decided to go west.

"I'm not sure I understand what the western development is all about since the population is on the east side, but it's happened," he said. "I think there's still plenty of opportunities there to reutilize that space."

Besides, he said, when one door closes, another one opens.

"We lost Plaza Office Supply after 20 years," he said. "But it opened a new door. We got a Hastings here, which is a modern store and brought a good element there. ... Not that when we first lose something, we don't have to sit back and scratch our heads and say, 'What are we going to do now?'"

Jason Harvey, the manager of the Sears store, said the new Sears Grand is expected to open Oct. 15. He said he didn't know when the existing Sears would close, although he guessed it would be before that date.

"But we needed a bigger space," he said. "That store just couldn't support our merchandise."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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