Coral Gables’ Behar Font Partners’ artistic rendering of a proposed 8.12-acre mixed use development for 3655 SW 22nd Street. That is where a Sears store has been located since 1959. The site plan was approved by Miami in April 2025. That doesn’t guarantee the project will move forward.
Behar Font Partners
Sears is one step closer to disappearing in South Florida. The last of the department stores in Miami-Dade and Broward could be demolished as part of redevelopment plans approved by the city of Miami.
The site’s owner also has put the property at Coral Way and Douglas Road up for sale.
The proposed mixed-use site plan for the eight-acre site where a Sears department store has stood since 1954 features three eight-story buildings with 1,050 residential units and nearly 50,000 square feet of retail space. The plans indicate no space for a Sears store.
“This extraordinary opportunity will appeal to a wide range of developers,” said Robert Given, vice chairman at real estate and investments firm CBRE, which is handling the property sale listing. “The site’s scale and proximity to Coral Gables provide an unparalleled opportunity to create a mixed-use enclave in one of South Florida’s most sought-after locations.”
The store, near the Coral Gables border, sits on land owned by RK Associates, which listed it for sale in May. The site plan, designed by architects at Coral Gables’ Behar Font Partners and filed more than a year ago, was approved by the city of Miami on April 18, said Miami spokeswoman Kenia Fallat.
Coral Gables’ Behar Font Partners’ artistic rendering of the southeast view of a proposed 8.12-acre mixed use development for 3655 SW 22nd Street. That is where a Sears store has been located since 1959. The site plan was approved by Miami in April 2025. That doesn’t guarantee the project will move forward. Behar Font
Sears has one other Florida store, in Orlando, and there are just eight remaining stores across the country.
Sears’ holding company Transformco didn’t respond to requests for comments or information on when, or if, the Douglas Road Sears in Miami would close.
‘Gables Sears’ history
The Sears at 3655 SW 22nd St. in Miami on the intersection of Douglas Road and Coral Way on July 10, 2024. This is the last Sears remaining in Miami. It opened in 1954. Howard Cohen hcohen@miamiherald.com
According to Miami historian Paul George, in the early-1950s the portion of then-undeveloped land that Sears built on was originally considered by the Miami City Commission to be the site for a new Orange Bowl.
That never happened. The Orange Bowl, which was built in 1937 in the Little Havana neighborhood west of downtown Miami, was demolished in 2008. But the Sears has chugged along, weathering trends in shopping preferences.
For generations, the department store has been referred to as the “Coral Gables Sears” because of its proximity to the City Beautiful.
@howard.cohen2024 Is this the last Sears? Miami Herald video highlighting my August 2024 story about the last Sears store standing in South Florida at 3655 SW 22nd St. on Douglas Road & Coral Way on the Miami-Coral Gables border. #Sears#MiamiHerald @Miami Herald ♬ original sound - HOWARD COHEN
“What made the Sears store so distinctive was its size, its vast array of products and services and its location on the eastern edge of Miracle Mile and the Gables,” George said last summer as talk of redevelopment swirled and as customers encountered deep discounts in aisles that were devoid of crowds.
Customers still go to the last Sears store in Miami, as seen here at the “Coral Gables store” as longtime customers call the store on the Miami side of Douglas Road and Coral Way, on the afternoon of July 10, 2024. But even so, the aisles are seldom crowded like they were in the store’s heyday, which lasted for decades after its 1954 opening at this location. Howard Cohen hcohen@miamiherald.com
But that Miami location near the busy LeJeune Road thoroughfare that leads from Miami International Airport five miles away also once made this Sears a popular destination with tourists.
“It seemingly had everything,” George said. “I’m not surprised that this store is among the last surviving Sears stores. This one has remained so long, I believe, because of its great location. Another big plus — plenty of free parking.”
Would Sears survive redevelopment?
The proposed mixed-use buildings take advantage of Florida’s Live Local Act, which allows developers to submit projects that are taller and more dense than allowed by local zoning if they set aside 40% of apartments for renters making up to 120% of local median household income. That level is currently set at $96,000 in Miami-Dade.
An image of the proposed development at the site of the last Sears in Miami on Coral Way and Douglas Road at 3655 SW 22nd St. RK Associates Miami Urban Review Board
The site would also feature paseos, courtyards and parking for more than 1,900 vehicles, according to paperwork filed with the city’s Urban Development Review Board and approved by the city.
CBRE would not disclose the asking price for the property.
Whether Sears survives and can coexist with the proposed development is not yet publicly determined. But the approved artistic renderings of the proposed buildings show no evidence of the 192,493-square-foot Sears that has dominated the land for more than 70 years. The retail footprint of the future mixed use development is almost a fourth smaller.
Listing agent Brad Capas, speaking through CBRE communication director Justin Luera, said: “It’s too soon to determine when construction can begin or when a new project might open. The development plan, handling of Sears, project design and construction timing will be determined by the ultimate buyer.”
In this file photo from July 26, 1996, Lennard Blomkist, then the owner of Searstown at US 1 and Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale, poses near the distinctive outdoor sign. STEPHAN F. MALOMAN Miami Herald file
Redevelopment can be several years away, as seen with other Sears locations.
The Searstown landmark store and its auto repair department that anchored a strip shopping center at Federal Highway and Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale since 1955 closed in 2022. The store was demolished by January 2024.
That land, also owned at the time by RK Centers and acquired by Denver-based developer Aimco, has made way for the construction of a mixed-use development that would incorporate residences, retail and a hotel.
Coral Gables’ Behar Font Partners’ map view of where a proposed 8.12-acre mixed use development for 3655 SW 22nd Street would be. The area marked in red is where a Sears store has been located since 1959. The site plan was approved by Miami in April 2025. That doesn’t guarantee the project will move forward. Behar Font Partners
When the new Miami development is built, it will have good company in the area. Given, from the Dallas-based CBRE, cited how the proposed development is close to Coral Gables’ retail, dining, office spaces and entertainment destinations and that residents’ average household income tops $198,000.
The open-air Giralda plaza with its numerous restaurants, the Plaza Coral Gables mixed-use development and the Miracle Theatre are within walking distance. The Shops at Merrick Park, an open-air shopping mall, is a mile away from the mostly quiet Miami Sears.
South Florida’s shuttered Sears
In this 2001 file photo, the Sears Tower in downtown Miami remains standing as demolition continues, making way for the future performing arts center on Biscayne Boulevard. Candace Barbot Miami Herald File
In addition to the former Fort Lauderdale Searstown site, South Florida once boasted numerous locations among the 3,000 Sears had nationwide at its peak. But in recent years, Sears closed most of its mall stores, including Aventura’s in North Miami-Dade, which was demolished in 2017 and converted into the Esplanade Aventura open-air retail, dining and entertainment village. The Cutler Bay Southland Mall Sears that survived Hurricane Andrew in 1992 closed in 2020.
The Palm Beach Gardens Sears closed in May 2024. And the Key West Sears closed in 2022.
The Biscayne Boulevard Sears in Miami on Northeast 13th Street that opened in 1929 was the most prominent one to say goodbye to Florida when it closed in 1983.
You can still see a piece of that Sears, though.
The Art Deco entrance tower was preserved and incorporated into the design of the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center in 2001.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 1:12 PM.
Miami Herald consumer trends reporter Howard Cohen, a 2017 Media Excellence Awards winner, has covered pop music, theater, health and fitness, obituaries, municipal government, breaking news and general assignment. He started his career in the Features department at the Miami Herald in 1991. Cohen is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Communication.Support my work with a digital subscription
