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The Sears Store In Boyle Heights Is Closing Its Doors For Good Next Month
The historic Sears building at the corner of Olympic and Soto has been a mainstay of Boyle Heights for generations. But now the store is closing its doors for good...sometime next month.
The enormous retail complex (two MILLION square feet) first opened in 1927, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
While most of the building has been empty since the early 1990s, the Sears retail operation, owned by Transformco, only recently announced it was liquidating its inventory.
Michael Lisicky is a writer for Forbes, and covers the history of department and retail stores in America.
He says what happens to the building next is anyone's guess:
"At this point, talking to the developer, everything seems stalled. I know that there was supposed to be over a thousand residential units – that's [no longer happening]. So, at this point, it'll just be, more or less, an office and commercial space."
READ MORE (AND SEE SOME COOL HISTORIC PHOTOS):
So Long, Sears. What Comes Next For These Empty Architectural Behemoths?
Sears project stirs gentrification talk in Boyle Heights (KPCC)
LISTEN TO THE STORY FROM AIRTALK:
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