Simon Plans Hotel, Apartments at Boca Raton Town Center Mall

Published: July 11th, 2026

The country's biggest mall owner wants to turn a dead department store into a walkable district with a hotel, apartments, and a pedestrian Main Street. The Sears closed in 2018. Now Simon Property Group has a plan.

Simon filed plans for a 197-room hotel, 374 apartments, and 157,000 square feet of retail on the former Sears site.
The project covers 31.6 acres and includes a landscaped north-south Main Street designed for pedestrians.
Simon acquired the Sears parcel for $23 million in 2025 and filed the proposal in May 2026.

The Sears at Town Center at Boca Raton opened in 1980 and closed in 2018. It has been sitting empty ever since. Now Simon Property Group, the largest mall owner in the country, has filed plans with the city to demolish the building and replace it with an eight-story hotel, a seven-story apartment building, eight retail buildings, and a landscaped Main Street running through the middle. According to The Real Deal, the proposal is under city review, with no public hearings scheduled yet.

What is Simon proposing for Town Center Boca Raton?

The plan covers 31.6 acres, including the former Sears footprint and surrounding parking. Here is what Simon wants to build:

Hotel: An eight-story, 197-room hotel with a ground-floor pool and bar.

Apartments: A seven-story luxury apartment building with 374 units.

Retail: Eight retail buildings totaling approximately 157,000 square feet.

Parking: An eight-story garage with roughly 639 spaces.

Main Street: A landscaped, north-south pedestrian corridor designed to shift the site from car-first retail to a walkable experience.

Simon acquired the 18.6-acre Sears parcel for $23 million in 2025 and filed the proposal in May 2026. The design team includes Perkins Eastman (site plan and retail), DLR Group (hotel), and MSA Architects (multifamily). Mark Silvestri, Simon's development president, framed the project as an effort to elevate the mall's position as South Florida's premier luxury shopping and lifestyle destination.

Where does this project stand in the approval process?

The plan is still in staff review. In Boca Raton, a project like this goes to the Planning and Zoning Board (which holds public hearings twice a month and makes a recommendation) and then to the City Council for the final vote. The first thing to watch is when it lands on a P&Z agenda. No public backlash has emerged yet because the process is still in its early stages.

Town Center at Boca Raton is the largest enclosed mall in Palm Beach County at approximately 1.77 million square feet. Simon has owned the central portion since 1998. The luxury anchors (Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Saks) own their own stores. Adding housing and a hotel keeps the property active beyond shopping hours and captures Boca's redevelopment momentum.

Looking at Boca Raton's redevelopment pipeline? Talk to a real estate agent in Boca Raton who tracks major projects and how they affect surrounding neighborhoods. Reach out to The Mastropieri Group or call (561) 544-7000.

Why are malls across South Florida adding apartments?

This is part of a clear regional wave. Malls sit on prime, infrastructure-ready land, and housing delivers faster than ground-up development. The new residents feed the surviving shops, and the property stays active around the clock instead of closing at 9 PM.

A JLL study found that about 54% of mall redevelopments in 2022 included residential. South Florida has several major examples in motion right now:

Galleria Mall, Fort Lauderdale: GFO Investments and Russell Galbut are proposing eight towers with over 3,100 apartments, a 170-room hotel, and over 1 million square feet of commercial space. The project is using the Live Local Act and has drawn significant opposition over density and traffic.

Bal Harbour Shops, Miami-Dade: Whitman Family Development has proposed 600 residences and a 70-room hotel. The project is currently in litigation.

Mall at Wellington Green: Axis Bainbridge has proposed apartments at the former Nordstrom location.

Simon's Boca Raton project is not using the Live Local Act and is going through the standard city review process. That may help it avoid some of the opposition that has slowed other projects.

What does this mean for Boca Raton's development wave?

As Larry Mastropieri explained on the Discover South Florida Podcast: "This is happening in parallel with what Related Ross is doing up the street with the Boca Raton Innovation Campus. Boca has a lot of major development stories happening at the same time. There is a lot to look forward to in this market."

The Town Center project lands in the same redevelopment wave as Related Ross's plan for the former IBM campus (BRiC), the One Boca mixed-use project near the Brightline station, and dozens of other projects moving through the pipeline. The city is having a mixed-use moment, and Simon is positioning itself to be part of it.

Simon is not a one-off developer testing the market. The company owns or holds stakes in Aventura Mall, Dadeland Mall, Miami International Mall, and Sawgrass Mills. In 2025, Simon bought the retail portion of Brickell City Centre for more than $500 million. This Boca project is part of a national $2 billion-plus development pipeline that is converting dead anchors (most often former Sears boxes) into apartments and hotels, from Brea Mall in Southern California to Phipps Plaza in Atlanta.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Town Center Boca Raton

What is Simon Property Group?

Simon Property Group is the largest mall owner in the United States. The company owns or holds stakes in major South Florida properties including Aventura Mall, Dadeland Mall, Miami International Mall, Sawgrass Mills, and the retail portion of Brickell City Centre (which Simon bought for over $500 million in 2025). Simon has owned the central portion of Town Center at Boca Raton since 1998.

When did the Sears at Town Center Boca Raton close?

The Sears opened in 1980 and closed in 2018. The site has been empty since then. Simon acquired the 18.6-acre parcel for $23 million in 2025 after a legal dispute with Seritage, the REIT that had previously controlled the property.

Is the Town Center Boca Raton redevelopment approved?

Not yet. Simon filed the proposal in May 2026, and it is currently under city staff review. The project will need to go through the Planning and Zoning Board and then the City Council for final approval. No public hearings have been scheduled yet.

How big is Town Center at Boca Raton?

Why are South Florida malls adding apartments and hotels?

Malls sit on prime, infrastructure-ready land, and housing delivers faster than ground-up development. Adding residents keeps the property active beyond shopping hours and feeds the surviving retail. A JLL study found that about 54% of mall redevelopments in 2022 included residential. Similar projects are underway at the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale, Bal Harbour Shops, and the Mall at Wellington Green.

Local help for buyers and investors in Boca Raton

If you are buying, selling, or investing in Boca Raton, Highland Beach, or Gulf Stream, understanding how major redevelopments affect surrounding neighborhoods matters. Reach out to The Mastropieri Group, Realtors®.

For practical, hands-on support across Boca Raton, call (561) 544-7000.