After years of sitting vacant, the former Sears building in Arlington is estimated to come down around the end of the year, according to city staff — a significant step in one of Riverside's largest redevelopment projects.
For years, residents have described the abandoned department store at the Arlington Village shopping center as an eyesore and questioned when redevelopment would finally begin after the project's entitlements were approved in 2024.
The Arlington Mixed-Use Development, planned for the former Sears property, cleared another milestone this spring when the City Council approved the project's final parcel map in April. The action formally divided the roughly 17.4-acre property into separate residential and commercial parcels, allowing the project to advance toward construction.
The site is now divided into a 14.44-acre residential parcel and a 2.93-acre commercial parcel, consistent with the development approved by the City Council in 2024.
Principal Planner Brian Norton said the parcel split is a technical but necessary step in the development process.
During project approvals, developers submit a tentative parcel map showing the conceptual subdivision of the property. The final map, approved this year, includes the detailed legal descriptions, easements and survey information required before it can be officially recorded.
"What happens after the entitlements [were] approved -in 2024] ... is the applicant has been working with the city departments ... producing the final map," Norton told the Gazette. "The final map includes what's considered metes and bounds, and all easements on the map – all the technical stuff that needs to be on the map to be recorded."
Although some residents questioned why nearly two years passed between project approval and the final map, Norton said the timeline is not unusual for a project of this size.
"It depends on the complexity of the site," he said, explaining that final maps often go through multiple rounds of revisions as city departments review engineering details and request corrections before recording.
The project also has a new residential developer.
Norton said developer Foulger Pratt originally entitled the entire property before recently selling the residential portion to Bridge Housing, one of the West Coast's largest affordable housing developers. Seritage Growth Properties, which owns the commercial parcel, continues seeking a buyer for that portion of the site, according to Norton.
Bridge Housing specializes in affordable housing, but Norton said the company has not yet determined what mix of affordable and market-rate housing will ultimately be built.
"They have not given us a mix of whether it would be 100% affordable, whether there would be 100% market rate, or a mix in between," he said.
The most immediate activity residents are likely to notice is demolition.
According to Norton, demolition of the former Sears building is estimated to take place before the end of 2026.
Before demolition can begin, the developer must complete environmental remediation and satisfy regional air quality requirements.
The commercial portion of the project currently remains unchanged from what the city approved in 2024. Plans still include a grocery store and a separate multi tenant retail building, although no grocery tenant has been secured, according to Norton.
"There has not been one identified for the site," Norton said. "The plans that were approved are still the plans on file."
Norton said city officials are encouraged to see visible progress after years of planning.
"I think Bridge and city staff, city politicians are excited to see movement on the site," he said. "We're anticipating that getting going soon, so we're excited to see it be redeveloped."
The full timeline for the project — as well as its affordable housing unit and project financing details — currently remains unknown.
The Gazette reached out to Bridge Housing to inquire about such details, and a spokesperson for Bridge Housing told the Gazette in a statement that it will "share additional information as the process moves forward."
"BRIDGE Housing looks forward to working with the City of Riverside and other stakeholders to provide long-term housing solutions at the Arlington Avenue site that meet the needs of the Riverside community," the statement said.