The City Council on Monday signaled its willingness to help Blessing Enterprises, of St. Charles, Missouri, with the estimated $397,595 cost of knocking down the store.

However, the council has yet to commit to anything. Its action on Monday only declared its intent to negotiate a deal called a development agreement.

The measure approved Monday states: ”The council hereby expresses its intent to support the project in the future. The city will in good faith negotiate the development agreement with respect to the development of the property and the undertaking of the project.”

As part of that development agreement, city officials will require the firm to provide a detailed site plan integrating any new businesses with the mall and surrounding properties.

Representatives of Blessing Enterprises recently approached city officials with a proposal for a $1.75 million development for 1.5 acres of the 6.5-acre Sears site. The remaining five acres would be available for future retail development.

The identity of the potential new business and the timeline for building it have not been revealed.

If the council agrees to help pay for the demolition, tax increment financing, not the city’s general fund, will be used, according to Mayor Matt Bemrich.

Tax increment financing occurs when increased property tax revenue from a designated area is reinvested in that area.

In the case of the Sears store, Blessing Enterprises would pay for knocking down the structure, Bemrich said. He said increased property tax revenue received from the new development at that site would be given to the company over a period of years to reimburse it for the demolition costs.

”If they don’t generate any new tax revenue, they can’t collect any money.” he said.

Councilman Jeff Halter summed it up like this: ”They don’t receive anything if they don’t build anything.”

The resolution expressing the council’s intent to enter a development agreement was approved unanimously.

The Sears store at 307 S. 25th St. opened in 1964 and closed in January 2015.

The building appears to be part of Crossroads Mall, but it is a separate structure with a different owner.

In September 2016, Hutton Growth LLC, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, proposed demolishing the store and replacing it with a 74,300-square-foot building that would house eight stores. A 7,800-square-foot building would have been built nearby to house a restaurant and four stores.

J. Herzog & Sons, of Denver, Colorado, which owned the mall at that time, objected to the plan, arguing that it violated agreements covering access to the parking lots and cut off access to the mall from Fifth Avenue South. The matter ended up in Webster County District Court. In late 2017, Hutton Growth LLC moved for the dismissal of the lawsuit and walked away from the project.

On April 5, city inspectors issued an unsafe building notice for the former store, citing unsecured doors and windows, broken windows and peeling paint. On the same day, the inspectors issued a nuisance notification citing rubbish and debris on the property. Some large windows have since been boarded up.