Fence Around Sears Goes Up As Building Prepares To Come Down

BEL AIR, MD — Change is afoot at one end of the Harford Mall.

A construction trailer popped up in the parking lot alongside Tollgate Road next to the former Sears store.

The department store closed in February 2020 at the Harford Mall as the chain shuttered locations nationwide.

See Also: Sears Closing Store In Harford Mall

In October, CBL Properties, which owns the Harford Mall, announced that it had closed on the sale of the former Sears store in Bel Air to developer SJC Ventures for $5 million.

After sitting vacant for nearly two years, the store is now surrounded by demolition fencing that was installed in December.

As of this week, the developer has not yet obtained a demolition permit, according to town spokesperson Patti Parker, who told Bel Air Patch the developer is awaiting utility shutoff at the site.

Once the Sears is knocked down, a new grocery store and shopping center will be built on the site as a standalone structure.

The developer has not yet identified the name of the anchor grocery store, but has said the development will be called the Shops at Harford.

The grocery store will be "high end," developer Jay Douglas told the Bel Air Planning Commission in the spring.

SJC Ventures — the company developing the shopping center — signed a tenant the week before the commission's May 6 meeting, Douglas said, but he did not disclose the name.

In early January, a representative for the developer told The Aegis that a spa and two fast-casual restaurants had also signed leases for the Shops at Harford, which will contain up to eight tenants when it opens by September 2023.

The company reportedly expects to get the demolition permit for the old Sears building by February.

Related: Sears To Be Demolished As Shops At Harford Mall Moves Forward

When the Bel Air Planning Commission approved plans for the new grocery store and shopping center in the spring, it made some stipulations. Among them was relocating the Harford Transit LINK bus stop during construction.

Since then, the bus stop has shifted from near the mall entrance to across the street, next to the parking lot.

The Sears store's utility lines were linked to those at Macy’s Furniture Gallery, where work has been ongoing this winter.

The Shops at Harford will have frontage on Tollgate Road and an address of 111 North Tollgate Road, according to planning documents filed with the town of Bel Air.