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Mar 31, 2023

Sears moving into part of former Marsh

GREENFIELD — After nearly four years of sitting empty, there’s some action at

GREENFIELD — After nearly four years of sitting empty, there's some action at the city's former Marsh Supermarket building.

Sears Hometown Store, which recently announced the closing of its location at 1244 W. Main St., is taking on about 8,000 square feet on the north end of the old Marsh at 1240 N. State St.

The 40,000-square foot former grocery store has been vacant since May 2017, amid the company's closings across Indiana and Ohio shortly before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Sears Hometown Stores are independently and locally owned and operated. They are much smaller than their mall-anchoring counterparts, carrying only home appliances, sporting goods, tools and consumer electronics, according to the company's website.

Representatives from the Greenfield location did not return requests for comment, but a post on its Facebook page on Feb. 25 said that it's finishing up a few projects at the new property to get up to code. The store added as soon as it receives permission from the city to open, it will announce it on its Facebook page.

Jenna Wertman, senior planner for the city of Greenfield, told the Daily Reporter in an email that Sears’ move consists of a minimal remodeling.

"Though they have indicated that the space may be remodeled further in the future to hold multiple tenants, at this point Sears will be utilizing their gondola shelving to separate out a portion of the space where they will store their products and stock, etc.," Wertman said.

She added the business is also making changes to the lighting and is repairing the sprinkler system and alarms.

ConsortiumCRE, an Indianapolis-based commercial real estate firm, represents the former Marsh property. Keith Stark, CEO of the firm, said the building is being gutted of all its supermarket equipment, which will be sold at auction.

"There's a lot of infrastructure involved with a grocery store, and basically we don't feel that the contents will be of use to anyone, so we’re going to auction it off," he said.

In the spring of 2019, Stark told the Daily Reporter about the difficulties of finding another grocery store to take on the site. Greenfield was not big enough to attract high-end grocers, and the building's close proximity to other supermarkets also discouraged interest, he said at the time.

"We just continue to try to bring new life to the corridor there, including the Marsh Supermarket," Stark said recently. "There are a lot of interesting new things coming to Greenfield, it's just you don't see all the behind-the-scenes work, but we’re making progress."

Stark said the property has drawn a lot of interest, but challenges remain like cost, property taxes and the renovation needed to achieve an alternative use. But getting Marsh's infrastructure out of the building and getting Sears into part of it is heading in the right direction, he continued.

"That's a baby step towards filling in the entire 40,000-square foot building," Stark said.