Gwinnett County’s redevelopment agency is slated to buy the shuttered Sears store at Gwinnett Place Mall as it pushes forward on the defunct retail center’s rebirth. 

Gwinnett County is purchasing the former Sears store at Gwinnett Place Mall.

The Urban Redevelopment Agency of Gwinnett County unanimously approved the purchase of the 11.5-acre vacant Sears store and adjacent parking lot for $11.5M during the agency’s special meeting on Tuesday. 

The empty department store is owned by Northwood Ravin, which purchased it in 2018 from Sears for $11M, according to Gwinnett County records.

The acquisition brings the county one step closer to its longtime goal of redeveloping the ailing mall. Later this month, Gwinnett officials plan to issue a request for proposals from developers for their vision on the mall’s rebirth, Nicole Love Hendrickson, who heads the URA and is chairwoman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, told Bisnow on Wednesday.

Those visions would likely involve developers razing parts of the existing mall, Hendrickson said. The main 562K SF enclosed portion of the mall — which the county purchased from Moonbeam Capital in 2021 for $23M — was used as a set for Netflix’s Stranger Things in 2019.

“It’s likely some parts of it will have to be torn down, but we have to wait for those proposals to come back to see what needs to stay, what needs to go,” she said. 

The Sears deal is expected to close by the end of October, after which point the county will command 87.5 acres of the mall property, including the former Macy’s department store that Gwinnett purchased in 2024 for $16.5M. 

The sale officially ends any ambition Northwood Ravin, which is primarily a multifamily developer, had for the former Sears store. Hendrickson said talks about the county buying its portion of Gwinnett Place Mall had been evolving for some time but became more realistic after Gwinnett bought the Macy’s anchor last year. 

“It signaled to them that it was time to let go of the property,” she said. 

Charlotte-based Northwood Ravin didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Board of Commissioners approved a plan in 2023 to redevelop the mall with up to 3,800 new housing units set in seven different villages, 55K SF of retail centered around a 4.4-acre central park, 50K SF of office, and a 52K SF international community cultural center and a public parking garage. 

The county is also proposing turning the current ring road around the mall into a 1.25-mile greenway with sidewalks and a cycle track.

The two open mall anchors, Asian department store Mega Mart and beauty supply retailer Beauty Master, own their own spaces. Hendrickson said the county has reached out in the past about acquiring their real estate so Gwinnett can have complete control over the property, but those talks have gone nowhere. 

“I think ultimately having 100% of the property would give us prime opportunity to redevelop it,” she said. “Having the existing anchor tenants there will make it a challenge but won’t make it impossible. We are not pressuring any of the anchor owners to give up their properties.”

The redevelopment will also include a new multimodal hub for rapid bus, microtransit and vehicles, called the Gwinnett Place Transit Center, a project largely funded by the Federal Transit Administration. The transit center, located on a county-owned parcel across from the former Macy’s department store, is expected to finish in 2032.

The actual redevelopment of the mall, though, will likely take much longer. Hendrickson said the eventual developer and its vision for the project will determine the timeline for redevelopment.

“Commercial mall redevelopment typically takes 25 to 30 years,” Hendrickson said. “It’s a legacy project. I probably won’t be in office by the time this is complete. But I can say I had a hand in getting it off the ground.”

The wrecking ball is coming for the Atlanta Medical Center. The Integral Group hired a contractor to tear down the Atlanta Medical Center. Integral and Wellstar Health System, the building owners, planning to replace the shuttered hospital with a mixed-use community that includes housing, retail, and health facilities. Ferma Corp. is leading the demolition team. The job is expected to take most of 2025. The development team will present its detailed plans once the space has been flattened.

The city worked with engineering firm Kimley-Horn to determine the highest and best use for the property. Their conceptual plan called for more than 2 million square feet of housing, along with several hundred thousand square feet of retail and other commercial uses.

Wellstar closed Atlanta Medical Center in November 2022. Wellstar leaders said the hospital system was forced to close because falling revenue and increasing costs put its finances at risk.

One of several Chicago-area CVS pharmacy locations that recently closed is set for redevelopment, including condos.

The site at 401 W. Armitage Avenue, which was once home to a CVS location in Lincoln Park, will be overhauled and feature residential units priced between $2 million and $3 million, according to Crain’s. Barrett Homes bought the roughly 8,850-square-foot site for $4.2 million.

Danny Glick of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate represented both the buyer, Barrett, and the seller, which Cook County records identify as Eric Roth, a New York-based real estate investor, per Crain’s. Bridgeport architecture firm 360 Design Studio will design the structure, which will include indoor parking.

A mental health treatment program has bought a 111-key Hampton Inn & Suites along North Druid Hills Road for $17 million, to expand its services. Skyline Trail has also purchased an adjacent restaurant property along Buford Highway late last year.

Brookhaven-based Skyland Trail began offering residential mental health treatment services for adults in 1989. In 2019, it expanded to offer residential treatment for young people ages 14 to 17.

The organization has five campuses in metro Atlanta: the main adult campus in Brookhaven, the South Campus in Decatur, the North Transitional Living Campus in Brookhaven and the J. Rex Fuqua Campus in Chamblee.

Hunter Hotel Advisors represented the buyer and seller in the recent hotel transaction.

Homeless encampments under bridges in Atlanta will be cleared, with the individuals allowed to seek temporary emergency in the former Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center campus. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the shelter will offer individuals wrap-around services, including housing and medical care. Individuals will have a finite amount of time to stay at the shelter.

The goal is to help individuals prepare to move on to more permanent housing solutions. The shelter is not a long-term plan for the facility. The agreement Wellstar has with the city is for 180 days.

Wellstar closed Atlanta Medical Center in November 2022 and the city is still “in negotiations and conversations” with Wellstar about selling the facility to an operator who could build a smaller hospital with an emergency room and other services such as neonatal and cancer treatment. A hospital would anchor a mixed-use development with housing, doctor’s offices and other amenities.

Home Depot intends to demolish a former Jacksonville K-Mart that had been there, empty, since 2016 and build a 133,123-square-foot home improvement center that includes a 25,225-square-foot garden center on the 11.5-acre site at 9600 San Jose Blvd. The application explains the closed 105,737-square-foot K-mart would be demolished.

There also is site and parking lot work, including an 8,575-square-foot outdoor seasonal sales area outside the garden center.

Sun-Ray Cinema thought about expanding with a five-screen theater at the site but the 2020 pandemic shut down those plans.