Mixed-use developments to replace Chicago’s last two Sears stores

The North Side stores would be turned into retail and residential space

Rendering of the planned mixed-use project at North and Harlem avenues
Rendering of the planned mixed-use project at North and Harlem avenues

The fates of the last two Sears department stores to be in operation in Chicago have been decided.

A joint venture between Tucker Development and Sears real estate offshoot Seritage Growth Properties will redevelop the stores into mixed-use properties with retail and residential space.

Tucker announced it would partner with the real estate investment trust to redevelop the last open store in the city, located at the Six Corners shopping district in Portage Park. The store is expected to close in July.

Last month the joint venture announced its mixed-use plan for the now-shuttered store on the corner of North and Harlem avenues between Galewood and Elmwood Park. Renderings show what appears to be a completely new six-story brick-clad building with ground-floor retail, although Seritage and Tucker said they were still in the design phase for both projects.

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Sears Holdings created Seritage in 2015 and sold it nearly all of its real estate assets with the task of making them profitable, either by selling them, redeveloping them or re-leasing them.

The REIT has gotten creative with Sears properties elsewhere in the country. In Santa Monica, California, it’s turning a landmarked Art Deco Sears store into a creative office space in partnership with Invesco.

Tucker is also currently active in Fulton Market. It announced last month it would rejigger the layout of its planned condo tower on West Randolph Street that it’s developing with Related Midwest. The redesign reduces its height to 495 feet from 570.