San Diego developer Merlone Geier plans to redevelop a shuttered Sears store in Glendale into a 682-unit apartment complex, The Real Deal has learned.
The project is currently undergoing a preliminary design review, according to documents filed with the city. The store, located at 236 North Central Avenue in downtown Glendale, closed in 2020 after 85 years in operation, previous reports show.
It was part of a round of store closings that came months after Transformco, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, announced a liquidation sale of 51 Sears and 45 KMart locations.
The 182,300-square-foot Glendale property, which was built in 1935, was later marketed for lease, according to a brochure on Merlone Geier’s website. Sears Auto Center continued to occupy a 5,600-square-foot portion of the site after the store’s closure but has since closed.
Merlone Geier plans to demolish the existing building on the property as well as a three-level parking garage on North Orange Street. The project site, which sits on a 4.5-acre lot, also covers parcels at 216 and 220 North Central Avenue, 309 and 315 North Orange Street and 212 West California Avenue, city records show. The ground floor of the proposed structure will be set aside for a “live work” space.
The redevelopment further reduces Merlone Geier’s Southern California retail portfolio. The firm recently sold 38003 47th Street East, a 250,000-square-foot mall in Palmdale, for $57 million. The deal was the company’s second retail transaction in Palmdale within the span of a month. It previously sold 39340 10th Street West, a 214,000-square-foot retail center, for $57.3 million.
The company is redeveloping the Laguna Hills Mall in South Orange County.
Plans for the site, which were approved by Laguna Hills officials in March, call for 1,500 apartments, 465,000 square feet of offices, a 150-room hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail space.
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