Gwinnett County will buy the long-vacant Sears at the Gwinnett Place Mall and solicit proposals this month to redevelop the once-thriving shopping center.
Gwinnett County commissioners, acting as the county’s Urban Redevelopment Agency, unanimously approved the $11.5 million purchase. When the deal closes, the county will own 97% of the mall.
“We’re excited about how this is really going to be an economic boon for the county,” commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s going to create jobs. It’s going to hopefully catalyze additional economic activity and growth.”
The mall did just that when it opened more than 40 years ago, transforming the Duluth area into Gwinnett County’s unofficial downtown. But the mall, like others in the region and nation, began dying in the new millennium. It was mostly vacant in 2018 when Netflix filmed pivotal scenes there for the hit series “Stranger Things,” set in 1985.
Gwinnett County in 2020 announced its intention to buy 39 acres of the 90-acre property, demolish most of the mall and redevelop it.
The county last year also bought the mall’s two Macy’s buildings and associated parking for $16.5 million.
Luxury apartment developer Northwood Ravin bought the Sears property in 2018, as the store was closing, but never demolished the building or began construction there. The county leased the Sears building in 2021 to operate a mass COVID-19 vaccination site, but wound the effort down the following year and subsequently ended the lease.
Hendrickson said she did not know exactly what Northwood Ravin intended to do with the property when they bought it seven years ago. The county and the developer began negotiating over the Sears property after the Macy’s purchase, Hendrickson said.
Gwinnett spent more per acre on the Sears property than the rest of the mall. Hendrickson said the purchase price was in line with the county’s appraisal and less than the appraised value as determined by Northwood Ravin.
The deal covers 11.5 acres and includes the Sears building and surrounding parking area.
The county has now spent $51 million on mall property, not including interest from the bonds that will finance it.
The purchase is expected to close next month. When it does, Gwinnett County will own 87.5 acres of the property, excluding the Mega Mart and Beauty Master box stores and their parking lots.
The county plans to replace the mall with a mixed-use destination, with multi-family housing, stores, office and small business incubation space, a park and a cultural center. The new development will connect to a trail network and include a new indoor transit center to replace the outdoor bus hub on Satellite Boulevard.
Officials say the new development, in what has become the most diverse area of the most diverse county in the Southeast, will have an international flair. The redevelopment concept they chose is named “Global Villages.”
Gwinnett County and global real estate firm CBRE will release a nationwide solicitation for development proposals later this month, county commissioners said. The winning proposal will determine exactly what is developed at the former Sears and other parts of the property.
“With this step, we’re excellently positioned to attract top development partners that will help us achieve our vision for this site,” District 1 Commissioner Kirkland Carden said in a news release. “This redevelopment will create economic opportunities for our residents and grow our county’s tax digest.”
Gwinnett County is also planning an on-demand microtransit zone that would include Gwinnett Place, downtown Duluth, the Gas South District and Sugarloaf Parkway area.
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