Work is underway now to turn the former Sears in downtown Santa Monica into an office and retail complex aimed squarely at Silicon Beach’s tech industry workers, owners Seritage Growth Properties and Invesco Real Estate announced today.
The 100,000-square-foot property will offer “an abundance of indoor and outdoor space, spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, and a vibrant mix of street level restaurants and retail,” said Benjamin Schall, president and CEO of Seritage Growth Properties.
Office tenants will also have access to a transportation hub: The property is located adjacent to the terminus of the Expo Line at Colorado Avenue and Fourth Street.
The landmarked building, now called Mark 302, will undergo a host of renovations, including seismic retrofitting, the creation of a fourth story and an atrium, and the addition of a landscaped rooftop deck.
A 2017 estimate placed the cost of the renovation at $50 million.
Renderings of the completed project show skylights, criss-crossing walkways, open-plan workspaces, and cut-outs in the floors to allow for sunlight to filter through all floors.
Mark 302 is expected to open in fall 2019.
The Santa Monica Sears is one of a handful of Sears buildings being repurposed into mixed-use developments. In Hollywood, CIM Group is moving forward with plans to turn a Sears shuttered since 2008 into a retail and residential complex with 375 housing units and nearly 265,000 square feet of retail.
In Boyle Heights, a large Sears complex will be reused and create over 1,000 residential units, almost 100,000 square feet of commercial space, and 250,000 square feet of offices. The Sears on-site is still operating and will be incorporated into the mixed-use plans.
