Moving On: Sears Corporate Campus Up for Grabs
Sear's proprietor intends to auction off the corporation's main headquarters.
Get ready, Chicago! Sears and Kmart owner Transformco, it seems, is looking to offload its corporate campus nestled near the Windy City, according to local rumblings validate by Kevin Kramer, the economic development director for Hoffman Estates. Since 1992, Sears has stationed themselves in the Hoffman Estates locale, leaving the Sears Tower moniker behind, like a shed skin.
A Transformco representative chatted with the Chicago Tribune, stating that they're considering opportunities to boost value at the Hoffman Estates property, benefiting both internal associates and the wider Hoffman Estates community.
For over a decade, Transformco (formerly Sears Holdings) has been partaking in an extended asset disposal, as the retail behemoth struggled to keep its sales base. Now, only a handful of full-line Sears department stores and Kmarts remain operational, with the last Sears department store in its homestate of Illinois biting the dust this fall, followed closely by the demise of the last Michigan Kmart.
Lampert and ESL Investments, holding the remaining Sears and Kmarts via Transformco, envision a future centered around smaller specialty formats like Sears Hometown and Home & Life stores, as well as its Shop Your Way loyalty program.
In times past, the Hoffman Estates campus toted up to around 200 acres, featuring six interconnected office buildings and a whopping two million square feet of work space. The Tribune disclosed that the site also hosts approximately 100 acres of undeveloped land.
Several other retail giants have followed suit, cashing in on the sale of their corporate real estate. Ascena Retail Group, a clothing conglomerate, relieved itself of its headquarters early in 2020, right before the company filed for bankruptcy. Belk, having weathered bankruptcy this year, has been on the hunt for corporate office space subleases in North Carolina. Meanwhile, J.C. Penney sold off its headquarters property in 2017, offering a lease-back transaction to save and generate cash.
As to where Transformco plans to relocate its headquarters, well, we'll just have to wait and see. Sears has been Chicago-bound since the late 19th century after all.
A quick peek at the historical record shows no recent media reports confirming Transformco’s plans to sell its headquarters property.
- Government officials might be interested in purchasing the Sears corporate campus, as it could potentially provide new spaces for various departments or agencies.
- The update about Transformco selling its corporate campus could lead to significant changes in the real-estate industry, as more businesses might consider selling their headquarters properties.
- With the sale of the Sears corporate campus, AI and finance experts might analyze the potential impact on the sector, predicting trends in the investing world.
- The space industry could benefit from the influx of capital produced by the sale of the Sears corporate campus, as investors may now have more resources to fund space-related businesses and projects.
