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If malls continue to shut down and decay over the next twenty years, someone should turn them into retirement communities for GenX and Millennials.

Imagine apartments built into what used to be department stores, (Oh, you’re JC Penny 203? I’m at Sears 106). Get those old arcades up and running. Set up meal stations at the food court. Once people actually live there, stores will start to move back in.

If I’m unable to finish my life in my own home, that doesn’t sound like a terrible option.

possiblylinux127 ,

Oh damn…

die444die ,

Hopefully Tiffany will tour them

radicalautonomy ,
@radicalautonomy@lemmy.world avatar

I dunno, man, she wouldn’t have much of a crowd to perform to since malls these days are pretty much dead. I’m at a local mall right now (getting a kiosk phone case), but there doesn’t seem to be anyone around.

Banichan ,
@Banichan@dormi.zone avatar

Can’t have residential buildings in an area zoned for commercial use.

Rhynoplaz OP ,

We got time to make it work.

dumbass ,
@dumbass@leminal.space avatar

Just right click on the area and rezone it!

possiblylinux127 ,

meanwhile, OSM was filled with bad edits

thermal_shock ,

do rezonings not happen?

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Not even renovated, just set me up in a hot topic.

Texas_Hangover ,

Dibs on Spencers!

themeatbridge ,

Have you been in a Spencer’s recently? Remember the skeezy area in the back? That’s now the whole thing.

Aggravationstation ,

Can’t. The goth kids burned it down www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OvUDHpPgb4

cupcakezealot ,
@cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

counterargument; malls, arcades, and bookstores should come back in style because they were amazing and we don’t know what we missed until it’s gone.

kameecoding ,

They will come back as the US shifts away from car centered culture, malls thrive in Europe

Kecessa ,

In some places they’re already doing it to revitalize the majority of the mall, convert a section and suddenly you’ve got people around 24/7 that want services.

dual_sport_dork ,
@dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, they’re trying that around here and failing spectacularly. The recent fascination for new construction in my area seems to be try this “Main Street, USA” shit where they build brutalist flat-roof apartment blocks but with the ground level being retail stores. The rationale seems to be to attempt to build some kind of enclave where people can live, work, and shop without ever having to leave. The only glaring caveats are that the only retail businesses that ever appear here are all shitty franchised fast-casual restaurants where nobody wants to go, with the gaps filled in by the usual parade of payday loan places, cash for gold, crossfit joints that attract no members, and a revolving door of nail salons and wannabe hipster barber shops opening and going out of business.

Notably, none of the retail joints at street level pay enough for anyone working there to afford the astronomical rent for one of the apartments in the same fucking building. These motherfuckers can’t even set up a company town correctly…

Kecessa ,

I’m talking about taking an existing mall and converting part of it, not new constructions

dual_sport_dork , (edited )
@dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

I know that, but for all the reasons being discussed in detail elsewhere in this thread nobody is actually doing that. What is happening in reality is what I described, and it’s bonkers.

The only malls or retail or industrial buildings I have ever actually seen “revitalized” into housing was done by tearing them down entirely and building new buildings on the land. Around me, at least, what’s being built is what I described in my previous comment.

Melatonin ,

It’ll be just like “Dawn of the Dead”

thezeesystem ,

As a millennial I can tell you that most millennials I know wouldn’t want this but instead make it a place for none corporation and community events and such. A public place where your not forced to buy things where can just exist with others even if you have zero money and accessible to all genders and disabilities and races.

And yes retrofit part of it for people who need to get back on there feet, and homeless people.

If we could retrofit them into homeless shelters we could but it would require rebuilding mostly everything as malls are designed for stores not housing people (for instance the bathrooms are not private and not easily accessible if you live somewhere in it)

spirinolas ,

In a city in my country there was an old mall that was slowly taken over by bands who used the spaces as rehearsal rooms. It gained a huge following including some local big bands and concerts. They all paid rent too. Unfortunately, early this year, they were evicted by the owner and City Hall, out of nowhere and are on its way to become airbnb’s for tourists…

Nothing new…

____ ,

Elsewhere, someone suggested that it would be necessary to take the rebuild down to the dirt to handle plumbing and the like for individual units, but I’m not sure I agree.

Generally there is significant excess ceiling height in these commercial spaces, no reason the floor couldn’t be raised throughout the space to accommodate plumbing and the like in a way that’s easily accessible for future maintenance. You still end up with 8’ ceilings (or probably rather more) throughout.

Over the years, I’ve watched a number of retail chains and malls die, sometimes suddenly and sometimes slowly. It’s continuously seemed like a huge waste to me, when conversion to residential space would be relatively easy, relatively affordable, could be funded by local gov or nonprofit, and would make a significant difference in net housing costs in a given area.

When ‘traditional’ residential developers are competing with that, and with the ability to slap down standard-sized (AKA easy) risers/walls/etc. within commercial spaces of defined sizes, a further reduction in local housing costs is likely.

zbyte64 ,

Adding a load bearing floor sounds pricey. I’d go for industrial and have the pipes exposed.

spongebue ,

Load bearing as in, structural? Isn’t that the existing floor? Something built over the top wouldn’t be load-bearing unless you’re talking about any walls that would go up as well. It certainly wouldn’t be holding up the ceiling or anything higher.

zbyte64 ,

Ahh, good point. Meant more it can handle furniture, people, etc. Doesn’t that mean the walls are fixed though?

spongebue ,

If you’ve got an open area like a department store, that’s a lot of square footage that can be divided out. Walls can be built too, not uncommon at all in commercial construction I’m sure. And there are raised floor setups in data centers to make it easy to run cabling and stuff. If they can handle giant server racks, I’m sure a couch would be easy peasy.

Got_Bent ,

I know it’s hard to imagine since you’ve pretty much got to pay to exist anywhere today, but malls were a place to just exist. I spent hours and hours wandering around the mall in the eighties without any money.

Expanding on the thought, it was perfectly ok to be, get this, a TEENAGER existing without any money in a mall!

fine_sandy_bottom ,

malls were a place to just exist

Not really. Malls existed because enough of the people who went there were spending enough money to make them profitable.

Yes it was permissible to go to a mall and not spend any money, and a lot of people did just that, but that doesn’t mean malls did not require most people to be spending money.

draneceusrex ,

I have no respect for people with no shopping agenda

dustyData ,

In my country malls were never this. When I was young several malls, specially high end ones, banned unaccompanied teenagers during weekdays and at certain hours. Also, fuck malls with absolutely no seating or resting spaces outside of the food court. I hope they all go broke and get demolished.

paraphrand ,

Yesss, give us community spaces that are not designed around maximizing profits.

Yawweee877h444 ,

Knock these things down and plant trees and stuff.

While we’re at it knock all the corporate 9to5 office work buildings where all the employees can work from home and plant trees and stuff there too.

Trees and ponds and natural parks and shit, hiking trails…etc.

elbucho ,
@elbucho@lemmy.world avatar

God, imagine living in a retirement community that has a Hot Topic.

MataVatnik ,
@MataVatnik@lemmy.world avatar

No God please no. I hated malls as a child, this would be some sort of fucked up psychological torture.

Rhynoplaz OP ,

That’s ok, you can still go to Shady Pines.

I_Fart_Glitter ,

As is often mentioned, the plumbing situation makes this somewhat untenable.

But, as the world warms and outdoor recreation becomes impossible, I think they could be repurposed into indoor recreation centers, not that different from a regular mall, just less focused on shopping and more on fun and exercise.

Rhynoplaz OP ,

Pssh! That’ll NEVER sell!

owenfromcanada ,
@owenfromcanada@lemmy.world avatar

But what if it were a subscription service? And we can add AI for no reason!

tunetardis , (edited )

As a GenX, I would prefer seeing them made into some sort of public space? We are losing a lot of that, at least where I live. Indoor space in particular.

SendMePhotos ,

Can you provide an example since in not fully understanding what you’re after?

czech ,

A library.

4am ,

Yeah but one for talking

jaybone ,

A talkbrary

I_Fart_Glitter ,

I commented below with a similar idea. Like a public indoor park, for when Outside™ is no longer an option for recreation due to climate issues. They are big enough to accommodate large playgrounds, both child and adult style, running tracks, swimming pools, sports fields/courts. Keep the food court, sure, throw in a library, etc.

If we ever get a house and senate progressive enough to shave like 0.000000001% of the military budget we could put one in every abandoned mall and have funds left over.

protist ,

They’ve turned one mall in my city into a community college and office space, and the other is going strong and attracting new tenants

zqwzzle ,

Wait you guys are retiring?

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