Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building (Los Angeles, California) - Vacancy and Redevelopment Plans

Vacancy and Redevelopment Plans

Though Sears continues to operate a retail store on the building’s ground floor, the remainder of the large complex has remained vacant since 1992. In 2004, developer MJW Investments announced that it had acquired the building and had plans to make the long-shuttered building into the centerpiece of a proposed $350-million, 23-acre (93,000 m2) retail and residential redevelopment project. MJW planned to convert the Sears building into 480 condominiums, 180 apartments, and 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of stores and restaurants.

However, MJW’s planned redevelopment was met with heavy resistance in the Boyle Heights community. Many feared the development could spawn a gentrification of the area, squeezing out low income housing. Others complained that the proposal for 150 affordable housing units was not enough and not the right kind. Others expressed concern that the large retail development would squeeze out small businesses with roots in the community. In May 2006, after two years of delays, MJW announced that it would not move forward with its redevelopment plans and was putting the building up for sale. MJW announced that it had paid $40 million for the building and invested another $10 million in the project.

Boyle Heights native and boxer, Oscar de la Hoya, who used to shop as a child at the Boyle Heights Sears store with his mother, stepped in to try to revive the redevelopment effort. De la Hoya, with investment from other developers, made bids to acquire the property in 2007 and again in 2008, but neither bid was consummated.