The old Sears building at the Acadiana Mall in Lafayette has been sold to a developer and it will be renovated and turned into a climate-controlled self-storage facility.

The Acadiana Advocate has reported that Star Lafayette LLC, which is registered to Florida-based development company Mustard Street Management, bought the building from Sears' real holdings company, Seritage SRC Finance, for $1.5 million.

The building has been vacant since the company closed this location in June 2017.

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The development company will be handling the demo work on the building and construction and the national self-storage company Extra Space will manage it.

Ted Filer with Mustard Street Management said this is the eighth former retail space in a shopping mall that his company will convert into a self-storage space.

“Typical vacancies are five to seven years (being empty) before we acquire the space,” Filer said. “Because everybody believes their beloved retail space will return to a retail space with lots of merchandise and 100 employees. It takes five to seven years for towns and mall owners to realize it’s probably not going to support retail anymore if it hasn’t done so yet.”

Demo work is expected to begin in the next two months. Work will include repairing the roof and deciding what to do with the second floor. Filer said it could be used for storage if the demand is there.

The building will get a full rehab, with new LED lighting throughout plus new paint and doors and it will even feature a drive-thru in the middle of the building.

There are also plans to convert the store's old auto center into something that will surely get people talking -- it's becoming a full-service car wash!

Sadly, a Mexican restaurant or PF Chang's is not part of the store re-do.

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