EAGAN — The Eagan City Council approved preliminary plans this week for an outlet mall that would open in two years with nearly 100 brand-name stores.

The project’s last big hurdle is a development agreement between the city and developer Paragon Outlet Partners, but city officials said they expect the deal to be hammered out by about January.

Paragon Outlets at Cedar Grove is being billed as an open-air outlet center on 29 acres near the intersection of Cedar Avenue and Minnesota 13. Although it would be the only outlet mall in heart of the seven-county metro area, it would only be about five miles from the Mall of America.

Kelvin Antill, a Paragon spokesman, said the proximity to a traditional mall can be a good thing for an outlet mall.

“They shop there one day and the outlet mall the next day,” he said. “We really think we can feed off that. A mutual feeding, if you will.”

Paragon already opened outlet malls this year in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Livermore, Calif., and Antill said both projects were 100 percent leased on opening day.

The developers have told city officials that its similar projects generally had an investment of more than $100 million, created 400 construction jobs and produced 1,500 to 2,000 retail jobs.

“It’s a significant project,” Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire said. “It’s going to be significant for not only for Eagan, but I think for the south metro.”