Simon Plans Hotel, Apartments, Retail At Former Boca Raton Sears Site

Simon Property Group is moving forward with plans to reposition the former Sears property at Town Center at Boca Raton into a mixed-use destination with residential, hospitality and retail components.

The Indianapolis-based mall owner has submitted plans for a redevelopment area of roughly 31.6 acres at 5900 West Glades Road, expanding beyond the former Sears parcel to include surrounding parking areas. The Sears store, which closed in 2018, would be demolished as part of the project.

The proposal calls for a 197-room hotel rising eight stories, a seven-story apartment building with 374 units, an eight-story parking garage and eight retail buildings totaling approximately 157,000 square feet. Plans also show a landscaped internal street with parallel parking intended to create a more pedestrian-oriented environment within the mall property.

Simon acquired the 18.6-acre Sears site last year for $23 million. The vacant anchor space sits within Town Center at Boca Raton, a 1.77 million-square-foot regional mall where Simon owns the central portion of the property. Department store anchors including Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s own their respective spaces.

The design team includes Perkins Eastman for the site plan and retail buildings, DLR Group for the hotel and MSA Architects for the multifamily component.

The Boca Raton proposal reflects a broader shift among major mall owners as traditional retail centers add housing, hotels, restaurants and other uses to keep large properties active beyond conventional shopping hours. Across South Florida, aging mall sites have increasingly become targets for mixed-use redevelopment, though some larger proposals have faced resistance from nearby residents concerned about density, height and traffic.

For Simon, the former Sears site offers an opportunity to turn a shuttered big-box anchor into a new revenue-producing district while strengthening Town Center’s role as one of Palm Beach County’s major retail destinations.