Sears to sell its suburban Chicago corporate HQ

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Sears plans to sell the sprawling suburban Chicago corporate headquarters that’s been the struggling retailer’s home for three decades.

Transformco, Sears’ parent company, confirmed this week that in early 2022 it plans to market the 273-acre corporate headquarters in the northwest suburb of Hoffman Estates.

“These changes have reduced our needs for a corporate campus that was built 30 years ago for the needs of a more centralized business,” Transformco spokesman Larry Costello said in a statement.

Costello said employees have been operating under a hybrid structure during the pandemic, with a mix of inoffice and remote work. He declined to say how many employees are based in Hoffman Estates, or where a future headquarters might be located.

Sears was once the nation’s largest retailer, but it has struggled in recent years, seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018 with billions of dollars in debt.

Hoffman Estates has been home to Sears’ corporate headquarters since 1992.