A new anchor tenant will open its doors in the old Sears location at Hillside shopping centre in two years.
Hillside’s owners, BentallGreenOak, have confirmed a new retail tenant has been secured for the 150,000-square-foot space that was home to Sears for nearly 50 years. No names have been revealed.
Rahim Ladha, Bentall’s vice-president of corporate communications, said efforts are underway to prepare for the tenant’s arrival. “Though I am unable to confirm the name of the new tenant at this time, I can share that we expect the space to be open to the public in fall 2021,” Ladha said.
Rumours have swirled about who would take over the massive, two-level retail space since Sears closed its doors for good in January 2018. Tenants such as Walmart, Ikea and Costco, and residential redevelopment have been kicked around as options.
Bentall considered splitting up the site into smaller parcels, but it appears the single-user option has won the day.
Commercial real estate expert Randy Holt said Bentall will have saved itself a lot of headache and hassle in opting for one user.
“It’s risky to carve it up for a tenant and try and deal with the balance of the space,” said the veteran broker from Devencore Victoria. “Once you start down that road, there’s no turning back.”
Holt said it’s a surprise that there are single tenants able to take on that kind of space. “There are not a lot of players these days for space that size,” he said, adding it’s also difficult to find that much space in one location.
Whichever player moves in has every reason to expect success, he said. “Hillside is such a great location to serve the east side of the city.”
Holt said the commercial real estate market in Greater Victoria is generally vibrant, with office space in high demand, industrial land in short supply and retail space as good as ever.
Sears was the anchor tenant when Hillside opened in 1969.
It had a 20,000-square-foot Sears Auto Centre at the corner of Shelbourne Avenue and North Dairy Road, which was demolished in 2012 to make way for expansion of the shopping centre.
The Sears store’s final day was Jan. 8, 2018. Sears Canada filed for creditor protection in June of 2017.
