New buyer for Sears campus? Unnamed group under contract for potential purchase of parcel
An unidentified group is performing due diligence ahead of its possible purchase of the former Sears headquarters campus in Hoffman Estates, according to village officials.
Owner Transformco, which put the 2.4-million-square-foot office complex and 273-acre site up for sale 18 months ago, has selected the unnamed group to work with, Hoffman Estates Economic Development Director Kevin Kramer said.
Although the potential buyer and its plans for the site have not been publicly disclosed, real estate market analysts told the Daily Herald they did not believe the 30-year-old Sears campus would generate interest as an office center.
But the industrial market in the area has been hot, and Hoffman Estates has seen particular interest from data center operators.
Microsoft last winter bought an additional 30 acres adjacent to the 53-acre site where it plans a pair of 207,000-square-foot data centers on Lakewood Boulevard in Hoffman Estates, north of Bell Works Chicagoland.
Construction on one of the centers is underway and a new ComEd substation is planned to serve the campus.
Village officials earlier this week discussed raising the electricity tax rate for high-volume users like data centers as a way to fund the $16 million cost of replacing the aging Fire Station 22 at 1700 Moon Lake Blvd.
Colliers International is the broker for the former Sears headquarters but has referred inquiries to Transformco, which did not immediately respond Wednesday.
Early this year, village trustees said there had been interest in the site from a potential buyer, but that group could not put together the financing to make a deal.
The site features seven interconnected office buildings as well as 120 undeveloped acres around them. The assessed value of the campus was $50 million in 2021, down from $150 million in 2013.