St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman announced a plan this week to sell a former downtown police training facility and develop it into an employment center, offices or other retail spaces.

“This is an incredible opportunity to preserve a building with a rich history and build out vibrant green space, while also attracting hundreds of new jobs,” Coleman said in a news release. “It’s a win for St. Paul.”

The city is focusing on job growth through 2020, and a current proposal for the space from the Ackerberg Group, a Minneapolis-based development company that owns the high-profile Calhoun Square in Uptown, includes an estimated 219 additional jobs, according to the city.

A recommendation for the Ackerberg Group’s development plan “will soon be forwarded to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Board of Commissioners for consideration,” the release said.

The facility, formerly known as the Public Safety Annex, was built in 1925 at 100 E. 10th St. At the end of the year, the police facility will move from the old building to a new structure at 600 Lafayette Road.

The annex is across 10th Street from the Penfield apartment complex, which was developed on the site of the former police headquarters building.

The possibility of selling the Public Safety Annex invited vocal pushback from some downtown residents, who have long been promised more greenery on the site in the form of a new urban park.

As of 2010, the city had considered demolishing the annex and incorporating the land into a large downtown park. In 2011, crews razed the neighboring Pedro’s Luggage and Briefcase Center at 10th and Robert streets to make room for Pedro Park, a concept that grew out of the 2006 Fitzgerald Park Precinct Plan.

Pedro’s Luggage had closed in October 2008. The Pedro family eventually donated the land to the city, under the agreement that it would be developed into a park within five years.

The city now says the proposal submitted by the Ackerberg Group includes a capital investment in the adjacent park space — Pedro Park. The proposal also includes a privately funded 20-year commitment to ongoing maintenance and operations of the park. The city is also exploring using proceeds from the sale of the annex to help fund permanent improvements to the park.