A staircase at the abandoned Sears Crosstown building. Crosstown Arts

After being left empty for nearly two decades, the Sears Crosstown building in Memphis has been transformed into a "vertical village."

Sears occupied the building for nearly 70 years before it was forced to close its retail store and distribution center.

The transformed structure, known as Crosstown Concourse, honors the communal spirit of the old building while introducing a mixed-used environment of commercial, retail, and residential space.

For nearly 70 years, diners and shoppers flocked to the Sears Crosstown building in Memphis, a 640,000 square feet complex anchored by a Sears retail store and distribution center .

With its art-deco exterior and suburban location, the building signified the peak era of retail, when customers would flock to the space for hands-on shopping experiences or order from Sears catalogs.

By 1993, the building that had stood tall during the Great Depression and three major wars was entirely empty. Sears had shut down both the retail store and distribution center as demand for mail orders declined.

Read more: 50 haunting photos of abandoned shopping malls across America

The abandoned structure remained untouched for nearly two decades before a non-profit arts organization pioneered its renaissance. The result, a mixed-use center called Crosstown Concourse, offers a "vertical village" of commercial, retail, and residential space.

Take a look inside the transformed building, which is up for a $50,000 award for excellence in urban design.