Five landlords that replaced Sears with more profitable tenants

Now that the chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is seeking to shed even more stores, and possibly even to liquidate, such landlords may get their chance. Check out these examples of how some of them are reinventing empty Sears stores.

• Edgewater Mall, a 900,000-square-foot property with some 50 years of history in Biloxi, Miss., will add on an eight-screen luxury Premiere cinema this fall and a 24,0000-square-foot Sky Zone Trampoline Park next spring. The new entertainment venues are part of a repositioning that has seen such specialty tenants brought in as PlayLive Nation and Barefoot Billy’s. Mall owner Jim Wilson & Associates demolished a former Sears to make way for the cinema and a green space with some 20,000 square feet of landscaped gardens. The renovation also involves updated entrances, improved traffic access and an upgraded food court.

• CBL Properties kicked off a $28.5 million redevelopment of the former Sears building at its 1 million-square foot Brookfield Square mall, in suburban Milwaukee. The 125,500-square-foot project’s first phase will bring dining-and-entertainment options WhirlyBall and BistroPlex into the market early next year. Subsequent phases will expand the restaurant options and nonretail uses. CBL acquired the Sears property last year.

• Simon announced transformational redevelopment plans at five properties. “We are excited to redevelop the former Sears stores with uses that will benefit the community and the existing retailers in these destinations,” said Simon Malls COO Michael E. McCarty. The properties involved are Brea (Calif.) Mall; Burlington (Mass.) Mall; Midland (Texas) Park Mall; Ocean County Mall, in Toms River, N.J.; and Ross Park Mall, in Pittsburgh.

Burlington Mall's plan includes redevelopment into new shops and restaurants. The first phase is scheduled to open this coming spring. Ross Park Mall's plan features a new dining hall and new retailers, restaurants and entertainment across three levels. Construction is slated to begin early next year, with the completion set for the summer of 2020.

Brea Mall will add on a three-story, 120,000-square-foot Life Time Fitness facility as well as some residential space, and entertainment, restaurant and retail uses. Ocean County Mall is to bring in some new stores plus dining and fitness facilities. Construction is to begin there this fall, and the opening is scheduled for early 2020. Midland Park Mall will add two new restaurants and a larger Dillard's store, plus a new-to-the-market, large-format retailer. That work is expected to commence in the spring and to wrap up by the summer of 2020.

• RD Management bought the Sears property at University Mall, in Tampa, Fla., for $7 million, placing the 100-acre site under the control of one owner for the first time since the tract was originally assembled, in the early 1970s. RD Management intends to transform the 1.3 million-square-foot enclosed mall into a mixed-use center called Uptown — a multistory, open-air development with retail, entertainment, hospitality, education, medical, office and residential uses. The project could end up costing somewhere between $1 billion and $2.5 billion by the time it is completed in 2028. The current tenants include Burlington, Dillard’s and Miller’s Ale House. The Sears will remain open during renovation.

“The acquisition of the Sears property marks a significant milestone in the transformation of the entire University Mall site,” said COO Roger Hirschhorn. “We are excited to include Sears in the dynamic, mixed-use center we’ve always envisioned for this extraordinary community.”

• PREIT replaced a former Sears store at its Viewmont Mall, in Scranton, Pa., with a Dick's Sporting Goods, a Field & Stream and a HomeGoods. These three retailers all have their own exterior mall entrances. A spokeswoman says Viewmont saw a roughly 16 percent sales increase across the mall during and since the holiday season.