Anchorage planners OK new sidewalk, signs at Sears mall

The Anchorage planning commission on Monday approved plans for a new sidewalk, better signs and other improvements at the Nordstrom Rack store in The Mall at Sears to address complaints about safety and access.

Seritage Growth Properties, the real estate investment trust that owns the building housing Nordstrom Rack and its neighbor, Sears, proposed the changes last month. About six months earlier, a Superior Court judge ordered the city to hold a public hearing on the matter.

The agreement fell short of demands by a group of mall merchants for an indoor connection between Nordstrom Rack and the rest of the mall. Store owners inside the aging Midtown mall argued the store's setup was unsafe and hurting business by not directing customers to the rest of the mall.

During Monday's hearing, a Seritage official, James Bry, said an indoor connection to the rest of the mall would "disrupt Nordstrom Rack's entire business." He indicated that across the country, the stores are built to operate a single entrance.

[Anchorage Nordstrom Rack dispute pits mall owners against tenants]

Bry and other representatives instead pointed to plans to overhaul the signage inside Nordstrom Rack and in the mall to direct people to and from the store.

Bry also said Seritage expected to pay between $100,000 and $200,000 for a covered sidewalk, signs and other improvements like lighting, landscaping and replacing head-in parking spaces with parallel parking.

City officials and planning commissioners also said city law wouldn't allow it to force Seritage to build an indoor connection for Nordstrom Rack.

The plans still await review by the city traffic engineer.

Linda Boggs, spokeswoman for the merchants, said they hadn't decided whether to appeal.