Big boxes · Virginia

Former Sears building

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedClosedDanville, VA

Closed 72k sq ft Sears in Danville; proposed housing/retail but no active permits or market validation for this site. · summary, model-written

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Site profile3 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Strategy

Redeveloped

This site: record · all sites with this

New use

Housing

This site: …new_use field record · all sites with this

Retail (continued)

This site: …new_use field record · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

Status	ClosedWikipedia no source
Strategy	RedevelopedWikipedia no source
New uses	housing, retailWikipedia no source

Site context

Housing permits, Danville (Independent City) (VA), 2024	0 units in 5+ unit buildings, 0 in 2–4, 14 single-family; 2023: 270 in 5+Census BPS
Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW)	3,646 jobs in 248 establishments; average annual pay $32,218; employment location quotient 1.46; employment -0.7% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private
Jobs located in the tract, 2022	3,068 jobs; 103 in retail trade, 225 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 51590000500)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022
Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract)	children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 28th income percentile as adults; 4.1% incarcerated at the 2010 count (367 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)	not a low-access tract at 1 mile; 0% of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket; poverty rate 31.9%; median family income $31,050; 446 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
Schools	Danville City Public Schools (PK-12); 4 public schools within 1 mile: W.W. Moore Jr. Juvenile Detention Home; Galileo Magnet High; Adult & Career Education Center; R.I.S.E Academy at the John M. Langston CampusNCES EDGE
Elevation	431 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Storm events in the county, 2016-2025	71 county-logged events: 33 thunderstorm wind, 15 flood, 8 heavy rain, 6 hail; $13,894,960 property damage reported; 2 direct deaths; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events
Homes for sale in ZIP 24541, 2026-09	median list price $255,475 (-4.3% on the year); 129 active listings; median 96 days on market; 14% with a price cutRealtor.com Research
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023	282 establishments (-8%); 4,094 jobs (-4%)Census CBP
Housing market in the county	typical home value $133,231 (-1% 1 yr, +44% 5 yr); typical rent $1,132/mo (+6% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)	17,060 vehicles a day on 58 (principal arterial, 4 lanes); 559 trucks; 33 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Former Sears (72,836 sq ft) closed in Danville, VA. No active redevelopment permits recorded for this site (2023-2024 permits show 14 residential units total in city, not site-specific).

Why. Proposed housing/retail use conflicts with declining local retail (8.4% fewer stores since 2012) and modest housing market (ZHVI down 1% YoY, but up 43.5% over 5 years). Peer projects (e.g., Fairfax office building, Sioux Falls Kmart) share redevelopment strategy but lack site-specific success metrics. Housing market data is current (2026-09), but no evidence of demand for this scale of conversion.

Where it stands. Status: closed. Strategy: redevelop (housing/retail). Opportunity score: 15/100 (based on 'closed or demolished' status and housing mention only). No active permits or deals for this site. Peer comparisons show similar GLA/redevelopment focus but no proven outcomes.

For a planner

Traffic: 17,060 ADT on principal arterial (4 lanes) near site.
County retail jobs down 4.5% since 2012.

For a developer

Housing market shows mixed signals (1% annual decline but strong 5-year growth).
No active residential permits for this site despite proposed use.
Peer projects scored 4.5-5.5/10; no data confirms success for this location.

What we do not know yet

No demolition plan confirmed (record says 'closed or demolished per category only').
No evidence of demand for housing/retail conversion at this scale.
Housing market data is projected (2026-09), not current.

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

Office building at 10340 Democracy Lane, Fairfax City, VA · Other · similar GLA (60,000 sq ft); same strategy: redevelop; also in VA
Former Kmart, Sioux Falls, SD · Big boxes · similar GLA (92,000 sq ft); same strategy: redevelop
Fairfield Commons Mall, Glen Allen, VA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in VA
Skyline Mall, Falls Church, VA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in VA

Elsewhere on the web

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Multifamily screen

closed or demolished per category only, +0 until sourced
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

Gross leasable area	72,836 sq ftnewtypes-extraction
County	Danville city
Census division	5 · South Atlantic
Notes	Draft from wset.com, model-extracted, unreviewed: The former Sears building, a 72,836-square-foot big-box store opened in 1956 and closed in 1994, is under consideration for demolition and redevelopment into multifamily housing or retail use.

Not yet recorded: acres, year opened, original developer, what is there now, retrofit year. Know it? Tell us.

Sources

Danville City Council to decide future of former Sears building - WSET
1 quoted sentence
former Sears building

Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "Former Sears building, Danville, VA." Record n-a1d1aa7474, imported, unreviewed. Built on the public Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed. https://retrofitatlas.org/big-box/va/danville-former-sears-building/ (accessed 2026-10-20).

BibTeX

@misc{retrofitatlas_danvilleformersearsbuilding,
  title = {Former Sears building, Danville, VA},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/big-box/va/danville-former-sears-building/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record n-a1d1aa7474, release 2026-10-20, tier: draft. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-20}
}

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