If the American-style shopping mall is dying, we could easily be left with an awfully big pile of useless real estate. What should become of these empty retail shells?
In fact, some innovative ideas are already emerging. Across the country, malls are being retrofitted into doctor's offices, office space, and call centers. But some developers are taking a more creative approach.
Here is a collection of some of the most interesting ideas we've heard for what comes next for the shopping mall.
1. The mall as Main Street.
The bad rap on malls used to be that they made Main Streets obsolete. But with store fronts emptying out and visitors dwindling, some malls are planning redesigns that place walkability, public space, and outdoor hang outs at a premium.
Take a look at this Seattle mall. This is what the mall looked like in 2007 (courtesy of the Sledghammer, which chronicled its decline and has a whole photo essay of empty flagship stores and bleak hallways).
But mall owners are planning a redesign (complete with a new name, "Marketplace at Factoria") that more closely mimics a main street. Here are some mock-ups for the plan:
2. The mall as a high-end condo.
Similar to the mall-as-main-street concept, but with an emphasis on luxury living—think walkable development, anchored in the shell of a mall rather than proximity to transit. This type of mall redesign was tried by the Natick Mall, a 40-year-old shopping center outside of Boston, in 2007.
The 500,000-square-foot expansion brought more high-end retailers (like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Michael Kors), and restaurants to the struggling space. But theflagship addition was a collection of luxury condos known as Nouvelle at Natick. Planners imagined a "new era of suburban living" - one that "married shopping and luxury - without the hassles and high prices of the city."
In the first year, only 37 condos sold (though some people paid a whopping $1.6 million); the developer auctioned off 42 more in 2009 (for a notably-less-whopping $160,000). Ironically, the condos were auctioned off because mall-builder General Growth Properties, which owned the condos, needed quick cash (it was in the middle of a $27.3 billion bankruptcy case).
In 2011, several condo owners sued the property developer; demanding their money back.
3. The mall as City Hall.
Talk about the intersection between business and politics. The former Echelon Mall in Voorhees, New Jersey, began losing retailers in 2000. By 2005, only a quarter of its spaces were occupied. Right around the same time, the Voorhees government was looking for a new home. Plans to build a new town hall had been rejected in the late 1990s, and voters dubbed the proposal a "Taj Mahal."
In 2007, a development group demolished some department store space at the mall and re-purposed other parts. The re-opened Voorhees Town Center includes some new stores (including a Macy's); a tree-lined boulevard, condos, and the Voorhees Town Hall, "now conveniently located right next door to your daily shopping excursions,"according to the mall website.
Though the idea was initially met with skepticism, by now it's pretty well received. As New Jersey Municipalities wrote in 2011:
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