New era of retail for former Sears distribution center. (redevelopment of the Sears distribution complex at Northeast Philadelphia into a retail center)

The Sears, Roebuck and Co. complex on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia is gone.

The tower, the clocks, the offices, the retail store and the distribution center with enough merchandise to fill orders for customers from the upper reaches of Maine to West Virginia - all gone.

But retail lives on at that 120-acre site.

The Rubin Organization Inc., developer of the Mellon Bank Center office building and The Bellevue Hotel, purchased 48 of those 120 acres. Capitalizing on the shopping trends of the '90s, it planned and began building a $50 million power center, featuring big box retailers, such as Home Depot and Staples, and outlet stores, such as PetsMart and Old Navy.

The new shopping center, known as the Northeast Tower Center, will eventually have seven or eight big box and discount outlets plus six or seven smaller retailers and restaurants.

Home Depot, …