Sears property owner at Bowie Town Center takes steps to redevelop site

By Mike Rauck

Seritage SRC Finance is seeking to increase the number of residential units allowed on the Sears property at the Bowie Town Center for a proposed mixed-use project that could include retail, office, hotel, and residential buildings.  The 10.8-acre site is only one of several parcels that make up the 72-acre Bowie Town Center, and it currently includes the vacant Sears building, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, and several acres of parking.

Seritage filed a zoning map amendment earlier this month to permit up to 800 multi-family units and up to 150 townhouses or assisted living beds on the property.  The proposal represents a 670 unit increase over the 280 units that are permitted on the property under previously approved plans. 

The application that Seritage filed with the county is one of three applications that require review and approval before any buildings are constructed.

The City of Bowie plans to review all three applications using the city’s development review guidelines.  The guidelines call for a stakeholders’ meeting, a Bowie Advisor Planning Board public hearing, and a City Council public hearing for all three applications that Seritage anticipates submitting.

Seritage is a 2015 spinoff of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Sears owned a considerable amount of real estate throughout the country, and those holdings were transferred to Seritage as part of the spinoff.

Seritage has sold some of the former Sears properties, found tenants for others, and demolished some to make way for mixed-use projects.

In the company’s most recent earnings report published in February, Seritage detailed plans for three new projects to convert former Sears properties to mixed use sites – one each in Dallas, Chicago, and Redmond, Washington.  The projects will be built in phases with an average of 500 residential units per property if all goes according to plans.

Multiple residents expressed concern about the current state of the Bowie Town Center during recent City Council listening sessions.  The quality of the stores and the number of vacant units were mentioned.

Traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores have suffered in the wake of increased online shopping, and retail properties are commonly repurposed for other uses including restaurants, fitness clubs, entertainment venues, and residential.

The Sears property is part of collection of parcels that make up what is known as the Bowie New Town Center (BNTC) Comprehensive Design Zone (CDZ).  Other properties in this CDZ include the rest of the Bowie Town Center, the Shoppes at Bowie Town Center, Bowie City Hall, the Palisades townhouses, Heather Ridge Apartments, and several commercial and residential properties across from the Bowie Town Center on the north side of Route 197.

A Comprehensive Design Zone is like a custom zone where residential density caps and other property restrictions are tailored for a cluster of properties – unlike more traditional zoning where density restrictions must be strictly followed.  Planning officials have more flexibility when approving new and modified plans for CDZs, and approvals are handled on a case by case basis.

All property owners have the right to submit development applications for review, and the fact that the application is being reviewed by the city should not be seen as an endorsement by city staff, the Bowie Advisory Planning Board, or the City Council.  City Council recommendations emanate from the review process.  The city’s position should never be assumed just because a development application is being considered.

City review of the Seritage zoning map amendment application is expected to begin in late spring.

Click here to view a January 2019 video where the Sears property owners discuss possible uses for the site.