Work has begun on tearing down the former Sears department store building at Merle Hay Mall. The building was among the first constructed on the mall site in the late 1950s. The store closed in 2018. The mall’s owners are planning a $128.6 million redevelopment of the center that is located at Merle Hay Road and Douglas Avenue. The redevelopment includes relocating Kohl’s department store to a new building on the former Sears site. Development of the 55,000-square-foot store, which would face Merle Hay Road, is estimated to cost $10.3 million. The department store chain would own the building; mall owners would retain ownership of the land. Construction of the new Kohl’s is expected to be completed by spring 2022. A strip shopping center is planned north of the new Kohl’s. Below is a photo of the Sears site as it looked in October. See more photos at Facebook.com/DMBusinessRecord  Photos by Joe Crimmings