Big boxes · California

Former Sears department store site

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedRetrofit approvedGlendale, CA

Approved 2026 mixed-use project (666 units, retail) for former Sears site; reversed denial after HCD notice; active development. · summary, model-written

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Former anchors

Sears

This site: Sears wikipedia · all sites with this

Finance and pipeline

Retrofit in the pipeline

This site: …approved newtypes-extraction · all sites with this

Place

3+ other atlas sites within 10 km

This site: 8 within 10 km computed · all sites with this

30,000+ vehicles a day on an adjacent road

This site: 36,117 on a counted road fhwa-hpms · all sites with this

County permitting 2,000+ apartment units a year

This site: 9,430 units, Los Angeles County census-bps · all sites with this

County typical rent $2,000+

This site: $2,806/mo zillow · all sites with this

Shrinking county

This site: -2.5% census-acs · all sites with this

Strategy

Redeveloped

This site: …an eight-story building with 666 multifamily residential units, 16 live work units, approximately 1,500 square feet of retail, restaurant space and a 930-space… record · all sites with this

New use

Housing

This site: …an eight-story building with 666 multifamily residential units, 16 live work units, approximately 1,500 newtypes-extraction · all sites with this

Mixed use

This site: …new_use field newtypes-extraction · all sites with this

Retail (continued)

This site: …its, 16 live work units, approximately 1,500 square feet of retail, restaurant space and a 930-space parking garage. Approved newtypes-extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

Status	Retrofit approvednewtypes-extraction
Strategy	Redevelopment, approvedWikipedia
New uses	housing, mixed, retailWikipedia
What is there now	an eight-story building with 666 multifamily residential units, 16 live work units, approximately 1,500 square feet of retail, restaurant space and a 930-space parking garage.newtypes-extraction
Retrofit year	2026newtypes-extraction
Redeveloper	Merlone Geier Partnersnewtypes-extraction

Planning

Entitlement year	2026Wikipedia
Planning notes	Approved by Glendale City Council.Wikipedia

Site context

Housing permits, Los Angeles County (CA), 2024	9,430 units in 5+ unit buildings, 1,273 in 2–4, 9,106 single-family; 2023: 13,214 in 5+Census BPS
Other atlas sites nearby	8 within 10 km, 32 within 25 km: Sears department store (0.1 km); Glendale Fashion Center (0.8 km); Former retail site (0.9 km); Sears department store site (0.9 km); Glendale Garden Apartments (1.8 km)computed
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023	28,998 establishments (+2%); 419,890 jobs (+8%)Census CBP
Housing market in the county	typical home value $871,674 (+0% 1 yr, +13% 5 yr); typical rent $2,806/mo (+1% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)	36,117 vehicles a day (minor arterial, 4 lanes); 34 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Approved 2026 project for former Sears site in Glendale. Developer Merlone Geier Partners plans 8-story mixed-use building: 666 residential units (including 16 live-work), 1,500 sq ft retail, 930-space garage. City Council reversed denial in 2026 after HCD violation notice. Project status: approved.

Why. Project is active (approved, 2026 entitlement), not stalled. Housing market shows rising ZHVI ($871k, +13.1% 5y) and rent ($1,893 median). Retail employment grew 8.5% (2012-2023).

Where it stands. Site is within 1km of Glendale Fashion Center (operating mall) and other proposed retail sites. No current vacancy data provided. Traffic: minor arterial (4 lanes, 36k ADT).

For a planner

Project approved after 2025 denial; requires no further city action per record.
Context: 8 sites within 10km (3 proposed, 2 stalled).
Housing demand supported by rising rents and ZHVI.

For a developer

Project is active (2026 approval), not speculative.
Mixed-use scale (666 units) aligns with local housing market.
No data on construction costs or financing.

What we do not know yet

No current vacancy rates or tenant demand data.
No details on construction timeline beyond 2026 approval.
HCD violation in 2025 suggests prior regulatory friction.

Generated by qwen3-30b-a3b-64k:latest on Dell 5820 RTX 3090 (Ollama, qwen3-30b-a3b) from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

5600 Beach Boulevard: Shopoff and Lennar on the Former Amway Campus, Buena Park, CA · Office parks · same strategy: redevelop; also in CA; 38 km away
Crossroads of the World, Los Angeles, CA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in CA; 9 km away
Plaza Pasadena, Pasadena, CA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in CA; 10 km away
La Mirada Mall, La Mirada, CA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in CA; 36 km away

Elsewhere on the web

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

already in play: under construction, approved, or sold to a developer with housing plans
county shrank -2.5% 2018–23
median rent $1,893
housing in the record

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Now called / also known as	Former Sears department store
Anchors	Sears
County	Los Angeles County
Census division	9 · Pacific
Notes	Draft from outlooknewspapers.com, model-extracted, unreviewed: The former Sears department store site in Glendale, CA, was approved for redevelopment into a 682-unit mixed-use housing and retail complex by Merlone Geier Partners in 2026, after an initial denial was reversed due to state housing mandates.

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, year opened, original developer. Know it? Tell us.

Timeline

2022 Developer met with the city for the first stage of design review.
2023 Developer studied the historical veracity of the former Sears building.
2025 City Council voted to deny the project.
2025 California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued a Notice of Violation to Glendale.
2026 City Council reversed its denial and approved the project.
2026 Retrofit: redevelop

Sources

Glendale Reverses Denial of Housing Project at Former Sears Site
6 quoted sentences
Former Sears department store site
James Quilliam, with Merlone Geier Partners, who also spoke during public comments on behalf of the developer, said the firm met with the city in 2022 for the first stage of the design review
was subsequently asked to study the "historical veracity" of the former Sears building, which it spent half of 2023 studying.
It was at an Oct. 21, 2025, meeting, that despite warnings the city might face legal action, the City Council voted 3-1 to deny the mixed-use development project
Glendale City Council rejects Sears redevelopment at 236 N. Central Ave.

Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "Former Sears department store site, Glendale, CA." Record n-27628dc8f9, imported, unreviewed. Built on the public Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed. https://retrofitatlas.org/big-box/ca/glendale-former-sears-department-store-site/ (accessed 2026-10-20).

Link back

Paste on a project page: <a href="https://retrofitatlas.org/big-box/ca/glendale-former-sears-department-store-site/">Former Sears department store site on Retrofit Atlas</a>