A new Costco store may replace a long-vacant former Sears at Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake.

The applicant, 1401 Greenbrier Parkway LLC, which owns most of the mall property, is seeking a conditional use permit for a Costco gas station.

According to the application, if built, the big-box store would initially hire 200 employees and draw 7,000 daily customers; 10% of the customers would use the gas station. WTKR News 3 first reported on the document.

“The submitted site plan shows a new building separate from the existing mall facility,” Jimmy McNamara, the city’s planning department director, said in an email. “The application is under review and revisions are being made by the applicant.”

McNamara said the matter is not currently scheduled to come before any upcoming Planning Commission or City Council meetings. The gas station application would require action by those bodies. A warehouse store can be constructed at the site by right under current zoning, according to the application.

Mike Sifen, president of Virginia Beach-based Sifen Inc., bought most of the mall at auction nearly a year ago for $22.35 million. Sifen is president of 1401 Greenbrier Parkway LLC, the entity that owns the mall, except for Dillard’s. He bought the Sears property for $6.8 million in 2022, according to city records.

Sifen and a representative of his company did not return a phone call or email on Friday.

The Greenbrier Mall Sears closed in 2018. It was one of the original anchor stores when the mall opened in 1981.

Mayor Rick West said the possibility of redevelopment at the mall is a positive turn.

“I’m very excited about it,” West said about the proposed Costco. Seeing the mall’s decline from its heyday, he said, “has been heartbreaking.”

The mall property is a part of a recently adopted areawide redevelopment plan for Greenbrier.

While a new Costco isn’t “exactly what we would have wanted, exactly the way we wanted it, I think it will help spur further redevelopment there,” West said, adding that “we can make it work.” West also noted the public will have a chance to weigh in when the conditional use permit for the gas station comes before City Council.

Costco already has two stores in Hampton Roads. One is in Norfolk and the other is in Newport News. Work is underway to build a 152,000-square-foot warehouse center to replace the one in Newport News. It’s expected to open in 2027. In response to an emailed request for comment, Costco Wholesale said in an automated response it “cannot comment on new locations unless they are opening soon.”

https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/01/10/costco-greenbrier-mall-plans/