Forget dishwashers and watches — the Sears on Colorado Avenue will be selling beer in the near future.
The owner of the property, New York-based Seritage Growth Properties, is underway on its $50 million repurposing project, slated to deliver creative offices, a beer garden and a hang-out spot, the Los Angeles Times reported. It will be renamed the Mark 302.
The location, which closed in April, will feature a new, earthquake-resistant roof and atrium. Landscaping and outdoor furniture will shape up on the oceanfront roof– an amenity for tenants who rent out the top two floors. An extra floor will also be created in what was formerly attic space used for storage.
Rendering of the proposed development of the shuttered Sears store in Santa Monica (Credit: Neoscape, Seritage Growth Properties)
An airy market hall with space for up to 32 vendors will also shape up on the property’s first floor. The outdoor space on the west side, formerly used to unload trucks, will transform into a beer garden.
Rendering of the proposed development of the shuttered Sears store in Santa Monica (Credit: Neoscape, Seritage Growth Properties)
Seritage, a real estate investment trust, acquired 253 Sears and Kmart stores in 2015 as part of a $2.7 billion deal. Although it leased most of those back to Sears Holding Corp., a good chunk of the stores have shuttered its doors since due to declining sales.
Kacy Keys, senior vice president of development for the West, predicts a single tenant will lease the 50,000 square feet of office space, which is being designed by House & Robertson Architects. “We expect a Silicon Beach-type tenant,” Keys told LAT.
The firm first presented its adaptive reuse plan for the site to the city’s Landmarks Commission in late 2016. Despite losing some land to freeway construction years ago, the 3-acre plot could potentially still give way to new housing development if the city approves, Keys said. [LAT] – Natalie Hoberman