I think it's really hard to do that because of the lack of windows and of plumbing. Like, turn it into a kind of community center? Possible. Turn it into housing? You'd essentially have to raze the building and start again.
I think it's really hard to do that because of the lack of windows and of plumbing. Like, turn it into a kind of community center? Possible. Turn it into housing? You'd essentially have to raze the building and start again.
Actually, there's a developer in Providence who converted a 200-year old indoor mall to micro-apartments while preserving the common space. It's totally possible:
This development is amazing and it would be so great to have more of these.
But when you watch the video, they say that it only works because the mall is very old and so uses a pre-1980's design. They say this would not be feasible with most modern malls (which is the vast majority of dying malls). The typical shop here is much smaller, plus there are windows around the building, and a huge central skylight that gets sunlight into all of the units. Just think of the 150,000 sq ft 2-story Macy's in most malls - it would fit hundreds of these apartment units but they would all have to be windowless with insufficient plumbing. Plus, in most cities, the zoning code makes it illegal to rent out micro-apartments of this size anyway.
Mall-to-apartment conversion is possible in some cases but there are tons of difficulties that often make it impossible.
I think it's really hard to do that because of the lack of windows and of plumbing. Like, turn it into a kind of community center? Possible. Turn it into housing? You'd essentially have to raze the building and start again.
Actually, there's a developer in Providence who converted a 200-year old indoor mall to micro-apartments while preserving the common space. It's totally possible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmL2l-bcuUQ
This development is amazing and it would be so great to have more of these.
But when you watch the video, they say that it only works because the mall is very old and so uses a pre-1980's design. They say this would not be feasible with most modern malls (which is the vast majority of dying malls). The typical shop here is much smaller, plus there are windows around the building, and a huge central skylight that gets sunlight into all of the units. Just think of the 150,000 sq ft 2-story Macy's in most malls - it would fit hundreds of these apartment units but they would all have to be windowless with insufficient plumbing. Plus, in most cities, the zoning code makes it illegal to rent out micro-apartments of this size anyway.
Mall-to-apartment conversion is possible in some cases but there are tons of difficulties that often make it impossible.