On July 10, 2020, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 28 stores nationwide.[2]
Most of Southland was developed in the early 1960s. The site incorporated a freestanding Sears location and a few other stores operating as the Palma Ceia Center (Palma Ceia being Portuguese for "Palm Supper", a reflection of the ethnic Portuguese heritage of Oakland and its newly developing suburbs) and a $20 million expansion program was announced in the fall of 1963, in which the facility would become an enclosed mall. The Taubman Company was the primary developer (the developer of Chicago's Evergreen Plaza was also a partner) and John Graham (architect of Seattle's Space Needle) the primary architect.[3][4]
References
^"New Penney's Planned at Hayward Shopping Center". Oakland Tribune. December 22, 1963. p. 1C.