The Future of Abandoned Suburban Malls

Kansas State University

The Future of American Suburban Malls: An Adaptive Reuse Approach

Cheyenne Canterbury Arch 506A Professor Michael McGlynn 19 July 2020

The Future of American Suburban Malls

For the latter half of the twentieth century, the American shopping mall found its home in the booming suburban population. The suburban sprawl radiated outwards from America’s cities and was, contrary to popular belief, the product of government intervention and support rather than robust, free market happenstance. With government financial support, suburban businesses, real-estate markets, education programs, and infrastructure received substantially more funding than urban cities, which encouraged the wage and racial gap in the United States. 1 This suburban development led to the creation of the American suburban mall. The first mall was invented with the intention to “import the pedestrian experience of modernist, European cities like Vienna and Paris into America, where the automobile was king.”2 This place was meant to not only offer shopping, but also food, relaxation, and open green space. Bringing this kind of development to prospering suburban areas not only helped local communities socialize but provided accessibility to essential services for people in rural areas where driving two hours or more to an urban city was impossible. This was a successful idea until they became mass produced in the explosion of the suburban sprawl. What was once a successful representation of merging urban and suburban design, had become a symbol of corporate mass production that began to be abandoned in 2008 when the Great Recession came along.3 Since then, countless suburban malls have been abandoned and architects are now looking to redesign them into new community assets.

However, the question remains as to what is the best way is to adapt and reuse these structures so they may hold new value and help suburban communities thrive.

Suburban Malls must be viewed as an opportunity to revive suburban communities because they are being abandoned across the U.S. Those that haven’t completely shut down are 1 Lewyn, M. Government Intervention and Suburban Sprawl: The Case for Market Urbanism. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

2 Bogost, Ian. “When Malls Saved the Suburbs From Despair - The Atlantic.” Online Magazine. The Atlantic, February 17, 2018.

3 Bhattarai, Abha. “Malls Are Dying. The Thriving Ones Are Spending Millions to Reinvent Themselves. - The Washington Post.” Online Newspaper. The Washington Post, November 22, 2019.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

spending millions to rebrand their centers to stay afloat or failing and turning into “Zombie Malls”. Many associate the American suburban mall with the idea of a failed act of capitalism and mass-produced retail. What is less known is that the original suburban mall was designed with the intention to bring the urban qualities of life that the suburbs craved to a growing suburban community in America. Suburban malls provided essential amenities and social engagement in their prime that supported local communities as well as urban ones.3 Ian Bogost, a writer for The Atlantic, says shopping malls were “… a place to gather, a place to shop, a place to relax, a place to live. The mall was and remains horrible in some ways, but useful and even magical in others. It yoked people to commerce, but it also gave them tools with which to manage that harness, to loosen it enough to live somewhat peacefully, even while collared to capitalism.”2

Images of American suburban malls during their prime. Important features include interior gardens, double height social spaces, public seating, art, unique lighting, and water features. 5

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Sansone, Arricca Elin. “40 Vintage Photos of Malls Through the Years for a Step Back in Time.” Good Houskeeping, August 23, 2019. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g28727196/vintage-photos-of-malls-through-the-years/.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Since the American shopping mall began its decline, malls in every state of America have shut down and filed for bankruptcy including the St. Louis Mills Mall. 4 The present status of suburban shopping malls is that they are being abandoned due to online shopping, wealth inequality, and re-urbanization. This abandonment is affecting suburban local communities more than we know, because it has created a ripple effect that has taken some of the essential resources that those communities depend on to survive. Malls brought more than retail to suburban and rural communities, they brought food, healthcare, and amenities that those communities would otherwise not have access to without the shopping mall. The most prominent cause of the American shopping mall abandonment is online shopping. 6 Thousands of retail stores that live inside these malls have closed as online shopping takes over the suburbs of America, 2019 being the worst hit year to date which will be followed by 2020 in wake of the Covid19 pandemic. 7 3

Due to online shopping, retail stores can’t afford to meet the rent to keep their locations 4

Blackbird, Peter and Florence, Brian. “Deadmalls.com.” Website. March 21, 2020. Deadmalls.com .

Voien, Guelda. “What Should Be Done with America’s Abandoned Malls? | Architectural Digest.” Online Magazine.

Architectural Digest, August 30, 2017.

7 Whiteman, Doug. “Store Closings in 2019: The Complete List.” Online Magazine. MoneyWise, January 5, 2020.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

open within malls and end up filing for bankruptcy, including retail chains that millennials grew up with such as JC Penney. 8 This places mall owners in a tricky situation where they can either choose to close down or continue to operate on the anchor retail stores that still remain, though this often translates into malls that appear skeletal and unpleasant to visit. This is where the term “Zombie Mall” plays into the downfall of the suburban mall.3 Websites such as Deadmalls.com help track the mall closures that are occurring all over the United States. 9 Wealth inequality also plays a role in the closing of shopping malls, because in areas where employment and income are low, the amount people who are willing to spend on shopping decreases as well. Architectural Digest mentions, “Areas with high unemployment, declining populations, and low wages have some of the worst-off retail properties, creating a cycle where a lack of products and services contributes to the overall economic decline.”6 In addition to the impacts from online shopping and wealth inequality, the population shift from rural to urban has shown its effect on the American shopping mall. At the beginning of the suburban sprawl, population statistics showed a higher density of population in rural areas than urban ones. Now the analysis has shifted to show that higher populations can be found in urban areas versus rural, which affects suburban malls by setting up a less accessible condition where people are shopping in cities rather than traveling to suburbs. 10 Those who remain in shrinking suburban communities can’t provide all the support that suburban malls require to remain in operation, leading to their abandonment.

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Bain, Marc. “2019 Saw a Dramatic Spike in US Retailers Closing Stores — Quartz.” Online Magazine. Quartz, December 19, 2019.

9 Blackbird, Peter and Florence, Brian. “Deadmalls.com.” Website. March 21, 2020. Deadmalls.com .

10 The Economist. “Urban Growth - Modern Cities Become Less Dense as They Grow | Graphic Detail | The Economist.” Online Magazine, October 5, 2019.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

When the American shopping mall fails to keep up with the ever-changing trends of younger generations, they are either left to abandonment or reduced to skeletons of their past.

Josh Sanburn from Time magazine said, “That mall was an ecosystem unto itself, a combination of community and commercialism peddling everything you needed and everything you didn’t.” 11 With the collapse of these ecosystems, suburban malls have been left abandoned with empty atriums and the appearance of a ghost town.

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Sanburn, Josh. “America’s Malls and Department Stores Are Dying Off | Time.” Online Magazine. Time Magazine, 20 2017.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Image of Wayne Hills Mall taken by John Arehart. 12

Image of Metro North Mall taken by Steph Lawless.

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Anderson, Joel. “Retail in Peace: A Look at 20 Dead (or Dying) Malls | GOBankingRates.” Online Blog. Go Banking Rates, December 16, 2019.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Image of Cloverleaf Mall taken by Fire At Will Photography.12

Image of Randall Park Mall taken by Steph Lawless.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Some analysists see malls as urbanistic mistakes that have damaged downtown life and encouraged suburban sprawl. I think that while it’s easy to chalk malls up to nothing but mistakes that must be fixed, it is important to acknowledge the impact that they have had on the lives of everyone living in and around suburban communities. In my own personal experience, my town didn’t have any local resources which forced us to drive miles just to find everyday necessities. Not only did suburban malls provide a social space, but when one came to my hometown, everyone in the community relied on it for support.

Abandoned suburban malls are some of the most overlooked, potentially rich, design opportunities in America today. Malls must make the decision to either redevelop or re-tenant.

Many malls are owned by publicly traded companies whose shareholders want solid returns, and not high-risk redevelopment projects. Loans for these kinds of projects are also hard to get so many malls have resorted to re-tenanting the existing structure, often times with a grocery store or essential business as the anchor.6 In some cases for the malls that are pushing through the mass closures, they are adapting to become a destination filled with lifestyle amenities. These amenities include gyms, yoga studios, play spaces, and apartments. 13 Hawthorne Mall in Vernon Hills, Illinois is a small suburban mall outside of Chicago and is reinventing itself to become a center for community activity. This mall was once filled with large chain department stores but is now planned to host a variety of assets from retail and food, to apartment buildings and free-standing shops.13 Hawthrone Mall is one of many that are reinventing and rebranding what the future of the American suburban mall.

13 Fieldman, Chuck, Johnson, Jennifer, and Kukulka, Alexandra. “The Suburban Shopping Mall Isn’t Going Extinct. It’s Adapting — with Gyms, Play Spaces and Apartments. - Chicago Tribune.” Online Newspaper. Chicago Tribune, November 26, 2019.

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Sketch proposal for new Hawthrone Mall done by Centennial Real Estate13

The topic of mall design is even reaching into the design studios of the United States universities such as Stanford’s Design Bootcamp, which conducted a studio competition for reshaping the suburban mall experience. 14 Trevor Schram, a master’s student from Carleton University of Ottawa, centered his thesis around showing that the shopping center can function like a market square, park, or community gathering space and can be adapted to any use. 15 In an analysis by Dixon Beske, titled The Suburban Remix, there are researched attributes that make suburban mall redesign successful and promote intergenerational connections. These make a solid recipe for how designers should be approaching the reinvention of suburban malls.

The most common attribute is that abandoned suburban environments should be modeled after the most successful characteristics of urban areas. Suburban areas crave what urban areas provide because younger generations have redefined the “American Dream” to be one based on urban life, community, and accessibility.16

Bootcamp, Design. “Design Project: Redesigning the Shopping Mall Experience.” Standford University, Fall Schram, Trevor D. “Urban Suburban: Re-Defining the Suburban Shopping Centre and the Search for a Sense of Place.”

Carleton University of Ottawa, Ontario, 2014.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

According to the research of Dixon Beske, there are 7 specific traits that make malls successful: Urbanist, border trade area, destination driven, nearby parking, niche positioning, retail mix, and nonconventional anchors. 16 These traits can be described as follows.

1. Urbanist – An open area that provides shelter though is not enclosed. This may consist of a commercial corridor, which is double loaded with retail on both sides much like an urban city street. Store fronts that meet the sidewalk without set back engage the circulation pathways.

2. Border Trade Area – The assortment of retailers should be driven by the residents living in the complex, or nearby. This supports local retail businesses.

3. Destination Driven – Basic commodities such as drug stores, dry cleaners, pet supplies, and grocery stores are planned into the new design.

4. Nearby Parking – The use of on street parking with meters that generate revenue for the community, and scattered lots that are semi hidden to pedestrians are best rather than large seas of parking.

5. Niche Positioning – This is what sets this mall apart from all other malls. It provides a specific reason for people to visit and offers a unique attraction. This can take form in urban art, or a central park.

6. Retail Mix – Providing stores that are unique and different. Most of these could be Fairtrade shops.

7. Nonconventional Anchors – Rather than using department store chains, malls are looking towards other popular businesses such as restaurants that can serve the same purpose as an anchor store.

16

Beske, Dixon J. Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places. Iowa State University’s College of Design, US: Island Press-Center for Resource Economics, 2018.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Beske says, “Indeed, the current demand for the artisanal and handcrafted can be read as a desire for retrenchment from the sheer bigness that has come to dominate so many US industries and as a backlash against highly efficient yet impersonal corporations that feel far beyond the reach of any one consumer.”16 This expresses the American suburban mall’s fall from grace accurately because while an older generation thrived from the mass consumerism and access that the malls provided, younger generations starved for a sense of individuality and uniqueness within the places they shop. But younger generations aren’t the only audience that these projects should be appeasing. Younger and older generations collectively want convenience, choices, experiences, budget-friendliness, belonging, and recognition. Once the audience is understood, architects can design for the needs of that community. 17 In an article released by Small Business Trends, Larry Alton says, “Developers have also begun trying to urbanize malls in order to capture the millennial market, with its marked preference for cities”.17 In addition to younger generations looking for more urban settings, they further want spaces that provide a better quality of life. Beske also said, “Americans are not wanting anti-malls: Something with more detail and texture, even some rough textures opposing the smooth clean sterile traditional mall.”16 While this may seem like a proposal to deconstruct American suburban malls to then build something new and improved, it really is a strategy to analyze the components that malls have already been built with, and cut away what isn’t working to then fill areas that are lacking assets with more tools for communal prosperity.

Suburban malls should be designed for adaptive reuse, not demolition and build. This not only benefits the environment, but also preserves the history of the site while also turning

17

Alton, Larry. “How to Gain Millennial Customers: 6 Things They Want From Your Brand - Small Business Trends.” Online Blog. Small Buisness Trends, June 12, 2018.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

something that represented the U.S. in a light of mass production, into something that brings prosperity to suburban communities. Austin Richard describes adaptive reuse architecture saying, “Old structures have been renovated to fulfill their original functions by contemporary standards, they have been adapted to provide stimulating environments for uses unheard of at the original time of construction, and they have been stripped back to their historic facades to act as mere frontispieces for new spaces.” 18 This perspective can guide the new design of American suburban malls towards a new product that uses the original foundations and building blocks to adapt to a new purpose while saving it’s financial and environmental value. Beske’s studies show that new suburban mall adaptive reuse is grounded in a deeper longing for spaces and businesses that operate on a smaller and more relatable scale.16 Richard also provides similar findings within his case studies of adaptive reuse architecture such as Monmouth Park Place, a school that was adapted to become residential apartments, and the Dallas Warehouses, a warehouse district that was turned into a retail and mixed use building.18 A Case Study that I have chosen to conduct myself is a study of the St. Louis Mills mall, located near my home in the Greater St. Louis area. This mall was a focal point of community life in my area, not only to provide access to retail stores, but as a social gathering space for people of all ages. At it’s peak, this mall helped the local community thrive until the shift of a declining population and online retail.

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Richard, Austin. Adaptive Reuse: Issues and Case Studies in Building Preservation. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc., 1988.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Images of the abandoned St. Louis Mills Mall entrance(left) and food court(right). 19

Image of the abandoned St. Louis Mills Mall circulation corridor.19

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Bryant, Tim. "St. Louis Outlet Mall Gets a New Owner." STLtoday.com. February 19, 2016. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/st-louis-outlet-mall-gets-a-new-owner/article_18dc3335-047f-5b35-9e3b710edcbe91f5.html.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

For this abandoned mall, an infinite amount of opportunities await that could help the St. Louis community prosper and grow. The following images are just one possible proposal for the future of the St. Louis Mills Mall.

The proposed design accomplishes the seven design moves that make an adapted suburban mall successful as follows: 1. Urbanist – A commercial corridor is placed where the old main circulation of the St. Louis Mills mall was.

2. Border Trade Area – The assortment of retailers is be driven by the residents living in the complex.

3. Destination Driven – Basic commodities such as drug stores, dry cleaners, pet supplies, and grocery stores are planned into the new design.

4. Nearby Parking –Scattered lots are semi hidden to pedestrians by use of vegetation.

5. Niche Positioning – A central public plaza with a water feature is an attraction for nearby residents and people of the greater local area.

6. Retail Mix – Provides stores that are unique and different. Most of these could be Fairtrade shops.

7. Nonconventional Anchors – Rather than using department store chains, malls are looking towards other popular businesses such as restaurants that can serve the same purpose as an anchor store.

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Site Organization

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Aerial View of Public Plaza

Street View of Urban Corridor

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Though the implementation of the American suburban shopping mall has failed to evolve with today’s societal needs, the original intent and communal assets can be preserved through adaptive reuse architecture. This not only respects the history of American suburbia but benefits the environment. Designers should care about the future of abandoned suburban malls and adaptive reuse architecture because when paired together, progress towards a new image of suburban America.

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Bibliography

Alton, Larry. “How to Gain Millennial Customers: 6 Things They Want From Your Brand Small Business Trends.” Online Blog. Small Business Trends, June 12, 2018. https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/06/what-millennials-want.html.

Anderson, Joel. “Retail in Peace: A Look at 20 Dead (or Dying) Malls | GOBankingRates.”

Online Blog. Go Banking Rates, December 16, 2019. https://www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/economy/dying-malls/.

Bain, Marc. “2019 Saw a Dramatic Spike in US Retailers Closing Stores — Quartz.” Online Magazine. Quartz, December 19, 2019. https://qz.com/1771909/2019-saw-a-dramaticspike-in-us-retailers-closing-stores/.

Barker, Jacob. “Dying Hazelwood Mall Could Be Operating As Youth Sports Complex By Spring.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 10, 2019. https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/dying-hazelwood-mall-could-be-operating-asyouth-sports-complex/article_97589824-81fa-5747-b01b-623f41581545.html.

Beske, Dixon J. Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places. Iowa State University’s College of Design, US: Island Press-Center for Resource Economics, 2018.

Bhattarai, Abha. “Malls Are Dying. The Thriving Ones Are Spending Millions to Reinvent Themselves. - The Washington Post.” Online Newspaper. The Washington Post, November 22, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/11/22/malls-aredying-only-these-ones-have-figured-out-secrets-success-internet-age/.

Blackbird, Peter and Florence, Brian. “Deadmalls.com.” Website. March 21, 2020.

Deadmalls.com .

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The Future of American Suburban Malls

Bogost, Ian. “When Malls Saved the Suburbs From Despair - The Atlantic.” Online Magazine.

The Atlantic, February 17, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/when-malls-saved-cities-fromcapitalism/553610/.

Bootcamp, Design. “Design Project: Redesigning the Shopping Mall Experience.” Standford University, Fall? https://dschoolold.stanford.edu/sandbox/groups/k12/wiki/32a6b/attachments/cef6b/Brief%20%20Redesi gning%20Shopping%20Mall%20Experience.pdf?sessionID=8cbdfc6129ceb041dbad224 7ffc9d0112fd0ebce.

Bryant, Tim. "St. Louis Outlet Mall Gets a New Owner." STLtoday.com. February 19, 2016.

Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/st-louis-outlet-mallgets-a-new-owner/article_18dc3335-047f-5b35-9e3b-710edcbe91f5.html.

Fieldman, Chuck, Johnson, Jennifer, and Kukulka, Alexandra. “The Suburban Shopping Mall Isn’t Going Extinct. It’s Adapting — with Gyms, Play Spaces and Apartments. - Chicago Tribune.” Online Newspaper. Chicago Tribune, November 26, 2019. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-brook/ct-ppn-suburban-malls-tl-112820191126-pt5ufqnu25gihddrjxwgsk3roi-story.html.

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Lewyn, M. Government Intervention and Suburban Sprawl: The Case for Market Urbanism.

New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

Pulver, N.M., and P. Filio. Critical Perspectives on Suburban Infrastructures: Contemporary

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International Cases. School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

Richard, Austin. Adaptive Reuse: Issues and Case Studies in Building Preservation. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc., 1988.

Sanburn, Josh. “America’s Malls and Department Stores Are Dying Off | Time.” Online Magazine. Time Magazine, 20 2017. https://time.com/4865957/death-and-life-shoppingmall/.

Sansone, Arricca Elin. “40 Vintage Photos of Malls Through the Years for a Step Back in Time.”

Good Houskeeping, August 23, 2019. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g28727196/vintage-photos-of-malls-throughthe-years/.

Schram, Trevor D. “Urban Suburban: Re-Defining the Suburban Shopping Centre and the Search for a Sense of Place.” Carleton University of Ottawa, Ontario, 2014. https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/etd/7a8e072a-34cc-41af-acc2870e04a562ca/etd_pdf/02422e30fcadc9fc1329d748a6f59df9/schramurbansuburbanredefiningthesuburbanshopping.pdf.

Stamp, Elizabeth. “World’s Most Beautifully Designed Malls | Architectural Digest.” Online Magazine. Architectural Digest, June 27, 2017. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/worlds-most-beautifully-designed-malls.

Stone, Sally. UnDoing Buildings: Adaptive Reuse and Cultural Memory. 1st ed. England: Routledge, 2019.

The Economist. “Urban Growth - Modern Cities Become Less Dense as They Grow | Graphic Detail | The Economist.” Online Magazine, October 5, 2019.

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https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/10/05/modern-cities-become-less-denseas-they-grow.

Voien, Guelda. “What Should Be Done with America’s Abandoned Malls? | Architectural Digest.” Online Magazine. Architectural Digest, August 30, 2017. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/abandoned-malls.

Whiteman, Doug. “Store Closings in 2019: The Complete List.” Online Magazine. MoneyWise, January 5, 2020. https://moneywise.com/a/retailers-closing-stores-in-2019.

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