Developer CIM Group is getting to work at 5601 Santa Monica Boulevard, a long-delayed mixed-use project which will incorporate East Hollywood's historic Sears building.

The project, formerly known as Paseo Plaza, includes the rehabilitation of the 1920s department store as retail space with a 20,000-square-foot rooftop park.

The property, which includes a substantial surface parking lot, will be developed with a series of seven-story buildings designed by architecture firm Togawa Smith Martin.  Plans call for 375 units of rental housing on the upper floors, with additional retail space below.

A full buildout of the development would create approximately 370,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space between the new construction and the restored Sears building.

Suffolk is the project's general contractor.  At the current time, shoring beams are being placed at the property in advance of excavation for an underground parking structure.