Brookfield’s Staten Island Mall anchor tenant, Sears, is closing up shop

Sears’ well-publicized struggles have reached Staten Island.

The famed retailer served as an anchor tenant at the Staten Island Mall for 46 years but will close for good in mid-September, according to the Staten Island Advance. Sears had announced in October that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and would be closing multiple stores but said at the time that the Staten Island location would stay open.

After its acquisition of General Growth Properties, Brookfield Property Partners became the owner of the mall, where Sears’ footprint had already been decreasing in recent years. The store took up 160,000 square feet across two levels for 40 years but downsized to 40,000 square feet on the first floor three years ago. Sears Auto Center closed in the mall more than three years ago as well.

The mall has seen several new stores in the past two years as its parent company tries to reposition it to do well in a very challenging market for traditional retail and shopping malls specifically. For the first time since 2007, chain-store retailers in New York are closing more stores than they’re opening.

HPS Investment Partners, a New York-based private equity company, led a group of investors providing Sears with a refinancing package worth $800 million earlier this year. [SI Advance] – Eddie Small