As retailers cut back cities confront ‘ghostboxes’:

The building, sitting derelict and silent on acres of asphalt, is now listed for sale at $10.5 million. But there’s been little interest in the near windowless warehouse-like building that occupies a lot the size of a dozen football fields.

For potential tenants ‘it’s a hard pitch because for most uses it seems to be a bit of a tough fit,’ said Brian Ritter, business development director of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association.

As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, more communities across the country are having to confront not just the eyesore of giant empty stores, but also the loss of jobs and tax revenue that follow.

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The long-vacant former EXPO Design Center building at East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood 101, once thought to merge with the Home Depot next door to form a super-size building center, has now been divided into two spaces and houses a Nordstrom Rack and a Sports Authority. Both new retailers seem (from appearances: parking full, busy checkout lanes) to be doing quite well. A new microbrewery/restaurant (Firehouse Grill) has also recently opened and the former Circuit City location will soon reopen as a Mi Pueblo grocery store–EPA’s first supermarket in at least a decade.