former kmart store in south denver to be redevloped

A former Kmart store in Denver that has been sitting empty for nearly seven years may soon be redeveloped as both residential and retail space.

Located at 2150 S. Monaco Parkway, the 110,000 square foot store, sitting on a 17-acre site, was opened during the heyday of Kmart national store expansion in 1967.

When Kmart became a subsidiary of the Sears Holding Corporation, Sears began closing several hundred of its outlets.  More than four decades after it had been built, the Denver store was boarded up and left abandoned.

Since then, city leaders have been trying to find a new use for the property, which is located just over seven miles southeast of downtown Denver.

Now the Glendale-based Forum Real Estate Group has announced that it has purchased the former store and site for $10.5 million with plans for redevelopment.

A company that focuses on multifamily residential development, Forum says it wants to repurpose the space, transforming the old store into a combination of 375 low-density multifamily units, along with up to 20,000 square feet of new retail space.

Work on the project could begin either later this year or in early 2020.

The Denver project is one of a series of Kmart redevelopments nationally. Some of the projects have seen the stores demolished, with their footprint transformed into new residential and commercial space, while others have seen the Kmart buildings themselves renovated and upgraded for new purposes.

By Garry Boulard

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