The financially troubled owner of downtown St. Paul’s Alliance Bank Center notified tenants Monday it would shut off utilities in two days' time, sending businesses scrambling to find new spaces, orchestrate difficult moves and grapple with goodbyes to storefronts that served as home for years.

Tenants were originally given two days to leave. They now say the city has promised to keep the lights on until April 1.

The office building is owned by Madison Equities, the St. Paul landlord that is trying to unload its downtown portfolio. Shutting the building down would leave a hole in the city's skyway system.