What Should Be Done With an Old Shopping Mall?

 

We’ve talked before about what can be done with mothballed schools, and decommissioned churches. But the closure of Collin Creek Mall in Plano this week gave rise to another question: What could be done with an old mall?

After all, many analysts believe the number of shuttered malls will only grow.

“There are still about 1,100 malls in the U.S. today, but a quarter of them are at risk of closing over the next five years, according to estimates from Credit Suisse,” Josh Sanburn wrote in Time magazine in 2017. “Other analysts predict the number will be even higher.”

“Today’s malls are partly a victim of their own success. Developers saw the popularity of malls in the 1970s and 1980s and did what developers do — build,” wrote Institutional Real Estate, Inc. “In 2016, the United States had 23.5 square feet of retail space per person, compared with 16.4 square feet in Canada and 11.1 square feet in Australia, the next two countries with the most retail space per capita, and 2.5 square feet in Europe, according to Morningstar Credit Ratings.”

“The United States simply has too much retail, and there is not enough demand to support all the malls currently in business.”

In 2017, Architectural Digest asked the same question. Re-tenanting was an option, usually preferred over redeveloping, the article said. 

“Redeveloping a mall in its entirety can be an expensive and risky proposition,” the article read. “And many malls are owned by publicly traded companies whose shareholders want solid returns, not high-risk redevelopment projects.”

Re-tenanting, often turning the mall from an indoor affair to an open-air one with a large grocery store as the anchor, has had better odds.

Some have turned shuttered malls into extension campuses for colleges, vocational training centers, or even have re-tenanted, but then added multifamily housing around the newly re-imagined commercial property. In Antioch, Tennessee, the Hickory Hollow Mall became a brand new practice ice skating rink for the Nashville Predators, a satellite campus for Nashville State Community College, and a library.

And indeed, we’ve seen re-workings in action at Red Bird Mall and now (finally) at the old Valley View site. 

But then a three-year-old piece in Business Insider captured our imaginations, and we shared it on Facebook. 

The story tells the tale of Providence, Rhode Island’s Arcade Providence, a 188-year-old mall that had closed in 2008. Northeast Collaborative Architects transformed the space, creating 48 micro-apartments that range in size from 225 to 775 square feet, and a mix of businesses.

“The $7 million adaptive reuse project respects the arcade’s historic design, but the building is modernized with double-hung windows to bring in more light,” said NCA. “Furnished one-bedroom units range in size from 225 to 450 square feet and feature full bathrooms, built-in beds, seating, storage, as well as kitchens equipped with refrigerators, sinks, dishwashers, and microwaves. When residents need more space than their cozy individual units offer, they can take advantage of a game room, TV room, and porches.”

“The arcade has other common amenities including on-site laundry, bike storage, locked basement storage units, and a parking garage across the street.”

The end result provided walkable living for rents ranging from $800 to $1,800. Each apartment comes fully-furnished with a platform full bed over a four-drawer dresser; a kitchen with a table, mini-fridge, sink, dishwasher, and microwave; a sofa; TV; and a full bathroom.

Demand is high for the apartments, too. In 2016, at least, there were more than 4,000 people on the waiting list.

As you can see from our Facebook discussion, many were incredibly interested in the idea here, too. 

“All dying malls should do this. They would make awesome retired living spaces,” said one reader. And indeed, whereas a demolished mall will end up in a landfill, a reimagined mall space (whether it be commercial use or residential) makes use of an already existing structure. And those vast expanses of parking lots? Those are ripe for ancillary redevelopment, and even green spaces.

Imagine it: Micro-apartments on an upper level, shops, a grocery store or farmers market, an indoor garden, and even a playground in the large common areas on the first level, as well as restaurants, a drug store, laundry, and more. Immediately adjacent to the reconfigured mall are townhomes, where families can live and walk over to avail themselves of the indoor amenities at the main building as well. Surrounding that would be green space, and mixed-use development.

In other words, a whole neighborhood.

So what are some other great uses for an abandoned mall? What malls in North Texas could be ripe for this kind of reimagining?

Want to see the other spaces we’ve reimagined? Click here.