Empty Big-Box Sears Store May Be Prototype for New Use: Coronavirus Vaccination Center

Government officials across the country are scrambling to find outlets to administer the new coronavirus vaccines, and in New Jersey they are turning to a vacant Sears mall big-box store.

Essex County, home to Newark, the Garden State's largest city, is looking to use the Sears site at the Livingston Mall at 112 Eisenhower Parkway for a "mega-vaccination center." It appears to be one of the first examples made public of a large empty retail space being considered as a venue to inoculate individuals against COVID-19.

The idea, if it catches on, could provide cash-strapped owners of empty retail space across the United States with a revenue stream as malls struggle from reduced foot traffic in the pandemic.

"Our county was the hardest hit here as far as positive infections and as far as deaths," Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. told News 12, a regional cable network. "So when they're going out and clearing out how many vaccinations they're going to give at a particular time, Essex County is going to rank up there first. So that's why we've got to be ready and ready to go."

The Food and Drug Administration this month is expected to grant approval to coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, with shipments of those medicines and vaccinations then slated to begin by mid-December as the nation sees a surge of the pandemic. First responders, emergency workers and medical staff would get the vaccine first.

It will be a herculean task to vaccinate the U.S. population, with state and federal officials already putting plans in place. In many cases, vaccinations are set to be administered in the same places where individuals received their COVID-19 tests — doctors' offices, clinics and pharmacies. There are also distribution sites planned for high schools, drive-thrus at public sites, and at fairgrounds. In Lake County in Illinois, officials are eyeing the Six Flags Great America parking lot as a possible location, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The race to find vaccination locations mirrors the struggle earlier this year to find sites for makeshift field hospitals to handle the overflow of patients from existing medical facilities when COVID-19 cases first spiked. At that time, for example, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan and the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, were transformed into temporary Federal Emergency Management Agency hospitals.

DiVincenzo unveiled Essex County's proposal for the Sears on Thursday on social media.

"We are planning on using the old Sears store in the Livingston Mall as a mega-vaccination center for the coronavirus," he wrote. "We toured the store with Sheriff Armando Fontoura and Livingston Mayor Rudy Fernandez to check it out."

The county executive also posted photos of other officials walking with him through the former Sears. That store, which closed earlier this year, has its own wing and its own entrance at the mall, which is owned by Simon Property Group. But it's unclear who actually owns the store.

A 2019 deed for the Sears site says it is owned by TF Livingston NJ, whose address in Bar Harbor Islands, Florida, is the same as ESL Investments, the company led by former Sears CEO Edward Lambert

DiVincenzo's spokesman, Anthony Puglisi, didn't respond to several requests to comment Friday.

Mayor Fernandez declined to comment, referring questions to the county. Officials at Simon and Livingston Mall didn't respond to inquiries from CoStar News.

Companies such as Collection Sites and Mobile Health Solutions, have turned to mall and shopping-center parking lots to locate mobile COVID-19 testing sites. Collection Sites recently said it had a deal with a number of the major mall landlords, including Simon and Brookfield Properties, to open its testing trailers in their parking lots. Collection Sites executives have said those trailers could also be used as locations to offer COVID-19 vaccinations.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said New Jersey should have 300,000 to 500,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine by the end of December.

Essex County is planning six mass distribution sites, which must be approved by the FDA, with the first four slated to be ready by Dec. 18, according to News 12. Those initial ones include the Sears, Essex County College, The West Caldwell School of Technology and the Codey Arena in West Orange, which will have refrigerated trucks on-site to store the vaccine, according to News 12.

The other two vaccination sites are slated for Branch Brook and Weequahic parks, both in Newark, which will open later, News 12 reported.