Multifamily
Jun 27, 2026
Simon Property Group Plans 400-Unit Housing Project at Former Sears Site in Boca Raton
Simon Property Group plans a 400-unit residential development at the 18.6-acre former Sears site at 5900 West Glades Road, after acquiring it for $23 million in June 2025
Traded Media
Traded Editorial
3 min read
- Simon Property Group is pursuing a 400-unit residential development at 5900 West Glades Road, the 18.6-acre former Sears site on the west end of Town Center at Boca Raton.
- The Indianapolis-based mall giant paid $23 million for the 180,029 SF shuttered big box in June 2025, after winning a multi-year Palm Beach County court battle against Seritage Growth Properties.
- The plan requires a CIMD (Commercial Industrial Multifamily Development) amendment from the City of Boca Raton, which is now under review.
Simon Moves to Fill Its Biggest Vacancy
Eight years after Sears closed at Town Center at Boca Raton, Simon Property Group has a plan for the 18.6-acre parcel sitting empty on the mall's western edge: 400 homes.
The proposal, filed with the City of Boca Raton, calls for a mixed-use redevelopment at 5900 West Glades Road on the site of the former 180,029 SF anchor store. Simon is seeking a CIMD amendment to permit residential density on the parcel, a zoning move the city has seen in a handful of similar mall-adjacent conversion plays across Palm Beach County.
Simon, led by CEO David Simon, closed on the property in June 2025 for $23 million, or roughly $128 per square foot on the building shell. The deal capped a six-year legal fight the Indianapolis-based REIT initiated in 2019, after Seritage Growth Properties, the Sears spin-off that previously owned the site, attempted to convert the space into restaurants, a hotel, and a fitness center. A 1985 co-tenancy agreement gave Simon the right to purchase if Seritage pursued non-retail uses. Palm Beach Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer ruled in Simon's favor in 2023.
From Department Store to HousingTown Center at Boca Raton is the largest enclosed mall in Palm Beach County and one of Simon's marquee South Florida properties, anchored by Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's across roughly 1.77 million square feet. The Sears shell, vacant since 2018, has been its most conspicuous gap.
The 400-unit residential play mirrors a broader Simon strategy. The country's largest mall operator has been converting dead anchor pads into multifamily at a number of its properties, betting that mixed-use density drives foot traffic and keeps mall ecosystems viable as anchor tenants thin out. Simon pursued similar residential additions at properties including Phipps Plaza in Atlanta and Burlington's Church Street Marketplace.
In Boca Raton, the CIMD amendment route gives the project a path through the city's review process without requiring a full rezoning of the underlying retail district. The city has 47 active development cases in its pipeline as of early 2026; the Town Center application is among the highest-profile.
A Market That Needs the UnitsPalm Beach County's residential vacancy rate has remained compressed even as South Florida's broader multifamily market absorbed a surge of new supply. Boca Raton's supply pipeline is thin relative to demand, and the Town Center site, positioned directly off I-95 at Glades Road, offers access that few infill sites in the submarket can match.
The 18.6-acre site also gives Simon room to work. At 400 units, the project would run at roughly 21.5 units per acre, a density that fits within the CIMD framework and leaves room for structured parking and potential retail at grade.City review of the CIMD amendment is ongoing. If approved, the redevelopment would mark the first residential use at Town Center at Boca Raton in its 45-year history.
Published: Jun 27, 2026Last updated: June 26, 2026