Eagan EDA Moves Forward on Proposed Outlet Mall

Paragon Outlet Partners LLC.'s vision for a 400,000-square-foot outlet mall on a 35-acre site in Eagan is two steps closer to reality following an Eagan Economic Development Authority meeting on Tuesday night.

The EDA, composed of members of the Eagan City Council, gave the Baltimore-based company exclusive negotiation rights for the purchase of the EDA-owned property, which is located in Eagan's Cedar Grove Redevelopment Area. As part of the agreement, the company will pay $25,000 deposit cover project review costs incurred by the EDA.

Paragon . Construction of the mall may take as many as 15 months to complete and could cost as much as $100 million, planners say.

The company has a maximum of 180 days to conclude a formal purchase agreement with the EDA for the Cedar Grove property before its exclusive negotiation rights expire, according to the contract terms.

But Community Development Director Jon Hohenstein expects negotiations to wrap up in advance of the agreement's deadline.

Granting Paragon exclusive negotiation rights is one of two actions the EDA took on Tuesday night in relation to the proposed outlet mall.

The EDA also voted unanimously to hire a third-party consultant to determine whether Eagan's retail market can accommodate Paragon's proposal and the 400,000 square feet of additional retail space it would bring to Eagan.

The study will cost the city $2,000, and will likely be complete within several weeks, Hohenstein said.

The company that will conduct the study, Maxfield Research, Inc., is a familiar name for local officials. Earlier this year, the firm completed a similar market study, which was prompted by on the Lockheed Martin site.

At the time, without cannibalizing current establishments.

Together, Paragon and CSM's proposals total roughly 900,000 square feet. While the total is just shy of the limit suggested by Maxfield's study, the scale of the two proposed developments has Eagan city officials looking closely at the vitality of the local market—and whether there is enough differentiation between the two projects to ensure success, rather than competition.

"It's just a matter of due diligence to go back when you have an additional 400,000 square feet [of retail development] proposed," Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire said. "I don't anticipate that the analysis will suggest any competition, but it's a question I think we owe it to the community to ask."

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