Sears — the last open store at Landmark Mall in Alexandria's West End — is closing.
Sears has released flyers for merchandise up to 70 percent off, and temp jobs are now available at the store.
A final closing date will depend on when merchandise (and eventually the store's fixtures) are sold.
For years, Sears complicated redevelopment planning for the 51-acre Landmark Mall property. As the rest of the mall and anchor department stores closed, Sears remained open and seemed unwilling to work with the Howard Hughes Corp., which acquired the rest of the property.
That changed in 2018, when Howard Hughes Corp. came to an agreement with Seritage, the Sears real estate holding company, to include Sears in the redevelopment plans.
By mid-2019 redevelopment seemed to be moving forward quickly, as Howard Hughes Corp. and the City of Alexandria hosted multiple community meetings about the property. Plans called for a massive mixed-use development including a supermarket, possibly a movie theater, a fitness center, hundreds of homes, office space, parks and civic use space.
The website thenewlandmark.com says, "The new Landmark will transform the 50-year-old mall into an active and welcoming hub to Alexandria’s West End—a community destination for the entire city."
Just a few months after the Seritage agreement announcement, key players at Howard Hughes Corp. who were heavily involved in Landmark Mall's redevelopment left the company in a corporate overhaul. At the time, Howard Hughes Corp. announced it was selling much of its development portfolio. Landmark Mall was not on the list of properties for sale, but the shakeup left Alexandria residents feeling less confident about whether the redevelopment would truly move forward.
West End residents had been hearing about redevelopment plans as early as 2006 under previous property owner General Growth Properties.
Earlier this year, a representative from Howard Hughes Corp. told Alexandria Living Magazine that they had no update on the status of redevelopment plans.
In Mayor Justin Wilson's April 2020 Council Connection email, he wrote, “There have been discussions between the City and Howard Hughes about potential public/private partnerships that will help spur the redevelopment, but as Howard Hughes continues with a restructuring, it remains to be seen who will ultimately bring Landmark through redevelopment.”
He continued: “While no one should be convinced until they see bulldozers knocking down the existing mall site, there is a lot going on. Landmark Mall redevelopment has been complicated from the beginning, but I believe we can be cautiously optimistic that it is finally coming together. The redevelopment of the Landmark Mall site has been a long time in coming to fruition. I am optimistic that we are finally making real progress in this effort.”
In June, Howard Hughes Corp. announced its Chief Financial Officer David O'Reilly would become president of the company.
