The general plan was to consolidate the department store, currently on 10 floors, to the first five floors of the building, opening up 265,000 sf on the top 10 floors for other uses. The early talk was office space, but given the current glut of space more recent discussions have been about apartments, condos or a hotel.

The city and May were set to negotiate an agreement wherein the city would direct the process and put out a request for proposals in the next few months. According to city officials, the entire project was expected to take five years, two-and-a-half years for the retail renovation and consolidation and two-and-a-half years for the redo of the upper floors.

May says it called off its work with the city because it hasn't seen economic models that show it can get the necessary return on its capital investment. Assuming it took on no partners, the investment would have been at least $65 million and likely closer to $80 million.