Food courts and multiplexes. Your friends and favorite stores. Minimal adult supervision. As a teenager, the mall had it all. So much so, that living at the mall sounded pretty rad.
Well, now you can live that mall rat dream.
The Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island — considered America's oldest shopping mall — has been reimagined with affordable micro-apartments, per GoodGoodGood.
The Arcade's adaptive reuse is part of a growing trend of repurposing malls, offices, and factories to address the country's housing crisis and breathe new life into sprawling, underutilized real estate.
The mall is dead. Long live the mall.
We've heard plenty about the demise of malls, including one report suggesting that 87% of large malls could shutter over the next decade.
Rather than face extinction, some malls are fighting their way up the down escalator.
The Arcade saw the writing on the mall wall and converted the upper levels of an 1828 Greek revival building into 48 tiny apartments starting at $550/month. Perched above shops, the development has a charming city-within-a-city vibe.
Converting zombie malls into housing isn't new, but the pandemic accelerated the trend. At least 33 malls added housing, and roughly 192 have similar plans.
- A historic Milwaukee mall converted into apartments with pickleball courts and doggy wellness center because, of course.
- Malls in New Jersey are adding hundreds of apartments, spurred by the state's affordable housing mandate.
- A Colorado shopping mall is adding 347 units including luxury and affordable options.
- In Washington, a mall replaced a Sears with apartments.
Skyscrapers and everything
Beyond the valley of the malls, developers are transforming office buildings, factories, and other vacant buildings into housing.
- A new city-wide ordinance in LA streamlines converting underutilized offices, industrial buildings, and even parking garages.
- A former Japanese cracker factory recently transformed into a 175-unit affordable and supportive housing complex.
- From Massachusetts' mills to Illinois' schools, adaptive reuse projects are converting factories into affordable housing.
- Cities across the country are fast tracking office-to-residential conversions with New York and D.C. leading the pack.
Here's hoping some of those mall conversions also revive Orange Julius and The Magic Pan.
