So, this is the second time I got to crawl around in this spot. It's changed a lot since I first shot in it.

At one point this was the largest distribution center in the world for Sears. It was so large that the workers on the floor sometimes wore roller skates to get packages from point A-B.

There is one story about a worker on the top floor who accidentally fell into the package chute and ended up breaking his neck he was going so fast at the bottom, 8 floors down.

The first time I was here was in 2011. Offices, store rooms, warehouse spaces etc were fairly intact, but obviously in a 13 floor building with each floor being as big as a small football stadium it's hard to keep maintained so much of what I saw was in a weathered state. Still yet, seeing old IBM computers, desks with files and staplers on them was a treat.

As you can see it is now almost gone- As of this post it's totally gutted.
The only remains were on the bottom floor. An old kids section had been walled off in the 90's along with the old cafeteria.

The lights had been left on and slowly burned out, only a few remained. AC was on full blast and thru the walls you could here people in the active part of the store.

In one of the side rooms was a grease trap that had been left since 1992. We thought it was a dead body it smelled so bad.

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Pretty cool with the lights on at that.
That looks like it housed heavy machinery at one time. Circa WW2 manufacturing maybe? Or always Sears?
Mmmmm 8 inch floppies

Posted by blackhawk Pretty cool with the lights on at that. That looks like it housed heavy machinery at one time. Circa WW2 manufacturing maybe? Or always Sears? Mmmmm 8 inch floppies

Always a Sears. It was built and designed specifically for the Sears Roebuck Corporation. The portion of the building closest to the street was built first. Then the back half was built as they grew as a company.

It is possible that there was heavy machinery on site. They had a HUGE distribution center that required custom boxes, large conveyer systems, an internal vacuum operated file delivery system, giant boilers in the basement to heat the place, a machine shop, an on site tailoring and textile repair department, and trains actually used to run right up to the lower warehouse doors.

They had to custom make the freight elevators from scratch just for this building.

It's a fantastic location, for sure.

Did you get to the roof top? There are some gorgeous views from up there.

Posted by SurlySilverback It's a fantastic location, for sure. Did you get to the roof top? There are some gorgeous views from up there.

Yea! There is a huge water tank and fire control room in the tower and a staircase that (before it was cemented off) went down to a back area of the basement.

Really cool! Are these pictures recent or did you take them a few years ago? I was thinking about trying to get in because I drove past this building the other day. I thought the whole thing was abandoned but saw there's actually a sears store at the bottom lol.

Posted by Factor VIII Really cool! Are these pictures recent or did you take them a few years ago? I was thinking about trying to get in because I drove past this building the other day. I thought the whole thing was abandoned but saw there's actually a sears store at the bottom lol.

Hey.
These are from December. The entire place is empty now. The Sears retail store is still functioning, small, but alive.

There are some other little shops in the old loading docks, but unless you get excited by big empty rooms and cement walls, the history is all in the mood now.