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Which malls should be demolished?

Started by tolbs17, August 15, 2019, 08:23:12 PM

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tolbs17

I think the Greenville Mall and Goldsboro Mall in Greenville and Goldsboro need to be demolished badly. They are boring and too small for the city, I wish those were rebuilt as a bigger mall.


jp the roadgeek

#1
A couple of malls in the Springfield, MA area have to go: Eastfield Mall, and Enfield Square in Enfield, CT.  Both are overshadowed by Holyoke Mall and the latter by Buckland Hills Mall.  Eastfield has seen all 3 of its anchors (Sears, Macy's, and Penney's) pull out in the past 8 years, and the only remaining anchor left in Enfield is Target (which is much newer in relation to the nearly 50 year old mall).  Enfield also lost a Sears, Penney's, and Macy's.
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

ozarkman417

For now I won't say any in specific, but I'm sure there are some ones that are empty or have an increasing amount of vacant space that probably won't be filled for quite some time. Brick & Mortar Retail has definitely been on the decline, and I think we all know why. K-Mart, Sears & many other big box & mall stores have been disappearing at a rapid rate. 

1995hoo

#3
Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia. The only business that's still open there is Sears, although the former Hecht's space is now being used as (this is not a joke) a homeless shelter. The parking garage behind the mall is partially leased to a nearby Honda dealer for vehicle storage because the dealer's lot is small, and this summer part of the mall's parking is being used for commuter parking during the partial Metro shutdown (a rush-hour-only shuttle bus runs between the mall and the Pentagon subway stop).

There are plans to rebuild Landmark as a "mixed-use" development in line with the current fad, but who knows whether it'll happen because they've been talking about the idea for years now. I wouldn't be surprised if they're stalling in the hope that Sears goes under. As is the case at many malls, Sears owns their own space (and the Sears Auto Center across the way) instead of leasing it from mall management, so even if the rest of the mall is demolished, the Sears store will remain.

I think we've had a thread similar to this in the past. Edited to add: I suppose the "Dead Malls" thread is what came to mind, though it's not quite the same as this topic.


(Edited a second time to fix a punctuation error.)
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

roadman

My vote goes for the Logan Valley Mall in Altoona, PA.  It was a dead mall when I first started visiting the area in the early 1990s, and it's only gotten deader since then.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

SP Cook

The era of mall building is probably over.  New suburbs and new cities will just not have malls anymore.   An exception may exist for "lifestyle" type malls, such as the "mixed use" faux city street deals (Easton Town Center in Columbus for example).  And also the outlet mall destination places (the various ones named this or that Mill, is one chain) are also doing OK. 

Existing malls will tedder along.  An industry is developing to repurpose malls into new things.  Megachurches, swap meets, office space.  Lots will just be left to rot, because unless the land has values, why spend money?  Some places, the old mall might be tract housing, or a new factory, or whatever.  Most places, will just sit and rot. 

Couple of repurposings I can think of.  In High Point, NC, the mall was purchased by nearby High Point University for eventual use, with some of the mall construction turned into academic space.  Charleston, WV 's second mall, which was a traditional inside mall, was converted, with doors placed to the outside of about one-third of the space individually, the local DMV put in one of those spaces, and the remaining interior converted into the statewide backoffice of the entire DMV.


Brandon

Quote from: roadman on August 16, 2019, 08:57:56 AM
My vote goes for the Logan Valley Mall in Altoona, PA.  It was a dead mall when I first started visiting the area in the early 1990s, and it's only gotten deader since then.

I went to that mall last year, and it was far from dead.  In fact, other than Sears, it was rather lively for a Friday evening.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

Max Rockatansky

The Manchester Mall in Fresno is largely derelict and has a Sears as the lone remaining anchor store.  A lot of the mall has been gutted to convert to office space (ironically Caltrans has an office) and largely sits unused.  The structure has this whole weird 1970s "brown" look and vibe to it that isn't all that appealing.

Flint1979

 I was waiting to see if anyone would choose this mall Eastland Center in Harper Woods Michigan and take half the population of Detroit with it.

tolbs17

I forgot to mention, Wilson and Vernon park malls should be demolished too in North Carolina.

Wilson mall basically has nothing open.

Vernon Park Mall has only one store open and it's Belk.

ET21

Ford City Mall that borders Chicago and Burbank
The local weatherman, trust me I can be 99.9% right!
"Show where you're going, without forgetting where you're from"

Clinched:
IL: I-88, I-180, I-190, I-290, I-294, I-355, IL-390
IN: I-80, I-94
SD: I-190
WI: I-90, I-94
MI: I-94, I-196
MN: I-90

hotdogPi

I see no point in demolishing a mall, even if it's almost empty.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

Brandon

Quote from: ET21 on August 16, 2019, 04:29:50 PM
Ford City Mall that borders Chicago and Burbank

Why?  It's got a lot of stores, even if one anchor is empty.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

Flint1979

Ford City is a good mall just in a bad area.

formulanone


Bruce

Everett Mall is dying because it's in an awful area and competes with Alderwood (which was quick to adopt the village-style lifestyle center before Mill Creek gained traction).

While a lot of malls are dying, the small ethnic malls in some communities are booming. And in Vancouver, most of the malls have been redeveloped into full-on urban villages with high-rises.

keithvh

Quote from: roadman on August 16, 2019, 08:57:56 AM
My vote goes for the Logan Valley Mall in Altoona, PA.  It was a dead mall when I first started visiting the area in the early 1990s, and it's only gotten deader since then.

Logan Valley Mall is fine.  It's admittedly not great, and the recent loss of Sears was a hit.  But it serves the region.  Draw a "5-sided figure" around Pittsburgh, Morgantown, Hagerstown, Harrisburg and State College: that's a large region and Logan Valley Mall has the only Macy's.

You probably know this, but there was a HUGE overnight fire there back in December 1994.  In retrospect, it was a good thing.  It allowed a re-freshing of the mall that put it a step above some of the regional competition (malls in Johnstown and Indiana - those malls are closer to dead).

TheHighwayMan3561

self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

tolbs17

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 17, 2019, 06:21:58 PM
Mall of America

And why is that? Because malls are pointless and need to turn them into mixed use development?

Brandon

Quote from: mrhappy1261 on August 17, 2019, 08:58:41 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 17, 2019, 06:21:58 PM
Mall of America

And why is that? Because malls are pointless and need to turn them into mixed use development?

Methinks you are missing the joke.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

tolbs17

Quote from: Brandon on August 17, 2019, 09:32:00 PM
Quote from: mrhappy1261 on August 17, 2019, 08:58:41 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 17, 2019, 06:21:58 PM
Mall of America

And why is that? Because malls are pointless and need to turn them into mixed use development?

Methinks you are missing the joke.

I don't even get why people do that. It makes me laugh!!   :bigass: :bigass:

MNHighwayMan

Quote from: Brandon on August 17, 2019, 09:32:00 PM
Quote from: mrhappy1261 on August 17, 2019, 08:58:41 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 17, 2019, 06:21:58 PM
Mall of America
And why is that? Because malls are pointless and need to turn them into mixed use development?
Methinks you are missing the joke.

It's also somewhat not a joke. Many natives, myself included, consider the Mall of America highly overrated.

RobbieL2415

I would really like to see the Buckland Hills Mall go away.  But it's not a dead mall so it'll probably stay a little while longer.

ftballfan

Quote from: Brandon on August 16, 2019, 05:05:15 PM
Quote from: ET21 on August 16, 2019, 04:29:50 PM
Ford City Mall that borders Chicago and Burbank

Why?  It's got a lot of stores, even if one anchor is empty.
That anchor closed because the company went Chapter 7. I still find it hard to believe that a failing department store would identify its most successful stores and sell them as is (with inventory and staff) or sell the building/lease

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on August 17, 2019, 10:46:46 PM
Quote from: Brandon on August 17, 2019, 09:32:00 PM
Quote from: mrhappy1261 on August 17, 2019, 08:58:41 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 17, 2019, 06:21:58 PM
Mall of America
And why is that? Because malls are pointless and need to turn them into mixed use development?
Methinks you are missing the joke.

It's also somewhat not a joke. Many natives, myself included, consider the Mall of America highly overrated.

Ended up going there once when my plane was delayed 12 hours with my immediate family.  Even by Mid-1990s standards it was incredibly garish, I can't imagine how poorly that place has aged with modern retail killing anchor stores. 



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