Across the United States shopping mall stores and sites are increasingly becoming vacant spaces. Despite great locations and good infrastructure we continue to see an influx of vacant mall space, potentially due to the convenience of e-commerce and the advancements of shopping websites like
Amazon,
Ebay and
Zappos.
Developers are now reconsidering these spaces and taking innovative approaches to re-purpose these "dead" malls.
-
Sears recently announced they will convert some of their stores into Data Centers, and have hired a former
Microsoft executive to lead this initiative.
- Others are converting former mall spaces into micro apartments of 250 – 300 sf with rents ranging from $550 – 1000 a month.
- Schools are taking the opportunity to utilize these available spaces to build classrooms and lab spaces.
- Some have even considered creating prisons.
Although the idea of the shopping mall won't be disappearing any time soon, we can expect to continue to see an evolution of the traditional mall into convenient multipurpose spaces that benefit the consumer, community and the developer.
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