The Santa Monica Sears will shut its doors in April to make way for a mixed-use development, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.

The department store, which has been operating since 1947, occupies a prominent site at 5th Street and Colorado Avenue in Downtown Santa Monica, adjacent to both Santa Monica Place and the Expo Line's western terminus.  Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment owned by Sears Holding Corporation, presented tentative plans to the city's Landmarks Commission in 2016.

Although no project has been officially announced, the Real Deal reports that CoStar shows a 100,000-square-foot office building is proposed for the site, with a groundbreaking scheduled for December.  The Sears Building is itself approximately 100,000 square feet in size.

While word of the impending store closure may serve as a death knell for the longtime Santa Monica landmark, the writing has been on the wall for several years.  Across the street, the former Sears Auto Building was demolished to make way for the adjacent Expo Line station.  The return of rail service to Santa Monica, combined with strong demand for office space on the Westside, likely sparked the proposed change of use.