Sears and Kmart owner buys Bohemia shopping center

Transformco, which owns the surviving assets of Sears Holdings, has purchased the 236,000-square-foot Sayville Plaza shopping center in Bohemia. 

The price was not disclosed, though industry sources say the property was sold for $18.5 million. 

Located on 22 acres at 5151 Sunrise Highway, the shopping center was 100 percent vacant in March 2020, after Kmart closed its 80,710-square-foot store there. Years before, the center’s other major tenants, including Borders, Office Depot and Sports Authority, closed their stores as part of bankruptcy proceedings. 

Transformco, which is owned by former Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert’s ESL Investment’s hedge fund, purchased the remaining Sears Holdings assets in 2019, four months after the department store chain’s bankruptcy filing in Oct. 2018.  

Sears Holdings, and later Transformco, had been leasing the entire Sayville Shopping Plaza and was sued by the center’s owner Arctrust, a Clifton, N.J.-based real estate investment trust, for failing to properly maintain the property. 

The sale of the center to Transformco was part of the lawsuit’s negotiated settlement, according to industry sources. 

Before the center was sold, much of the vacant space was leased to new tenants by RIPCO Real Estate broker Jeremy Isaacs, who had been retained by Arctrust. At Home, a home décor retailer, leased 88,728 square feet; the Aldi supermarket chain leased 21,948 square feet; and Floor & Décor leased the 80,710-square-foot former Kmart store. 

RIPCO’s Isaacs also represented Arctrust in the Sayville Plaza sale, while buyer Transformco was self-represented in the deal.