By Justine Griffin

ST. PETERSBURG — The fences are up and the construction has started. The former Sears department store at Tyrone Square Mall, which had been open for nearly 50 years, closed months ago to make room for new development: Tampa Bay’s first Lucky’s Market organic grocery store and a Dick’s Sporting Goods.

It’s a classic sign of the times for the American shopping mall — traditional department stores are closing at a remarkable rate while newcomers are gobbling up the prime real estate left behind after their funeral. But in an intriguing turn of events, the flailing, though long-standing Sears store that closed in St. Petersburg and the new tenants that are coming in after it, are all benefiting the same company. Or at least, the same owner.

Seritage Growth Properties is the New York-based real estate company in charge of a redevelopment plan at Tyrone Square Mall, which includes demolishing the 188,515-square-foot department store to make way for a new 151,952-square-foot shopping center for tenants like Dick’s, Lucky’s and Petsmart, with room for one more anchoring retailer. Seritage, which went public in 2015, is responsible for developing more than 200 Sears department store sites across the country. It’s the same company that turned half the Sears space at Westfield Countryside Mall in Clearwater into a Whole Food Market.

The link? Billionaire Eddie Lampert.

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