An apartment in a mall could be quite nice. Of course, the details matter, and to make them nice living spaces might require some reconfiguration. You don't ask

An apartment in a mall could be quite nice. Of course, the details matter, and to make them nice living spaces might require some reconfiguration. You don't ask why someone would want an apartment in New York neighborhood with shops, bars, and restaurants. But malls are a lot like those, or could be. Remove a lot of the parking lots with apartments, replace the Sears with a grocery store...