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I'd like to mention three malls that don't purely fit the "greybox" model and may point to a likely future for malls in general. - West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton
by blahedo 13y ago
I'd like to mention three malls that don't purely fit the "greybox" model and may point to a likely future for malls in general.
- West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, AB). In one sense, it is the mother of all greybox malls, surrounded by an asphalt moat. But: it's accessible via local transit, and it's very much in the model of an artificial downtown: it contains hotels, apartments, a hockey rink, an aquarium, and a variety of other things not in the simple greybox mall. This is because it gets really freaking cold in Edmonton in the winter and it's nice to go "outside" without going "outside"; and the diversity of stuff that's there keeps it more alive than at, say, Woodfield (outside Chicago, IL). The food court felt less like a food court and more like a street that had a bunch of little food shops on it. Basically, they've adapted "downtown" to the needs of their climate.
- The Ala Moana Mall (Honolulu, HI). I mention this mostly to contrast the previous one. It's laid out like a greybox mall, but since it's Honolulu, they just skip the whole "roof" thing on the central ways. So it's really more like a pedestrian street with a lot of shops on it. Also, it contains (or is adjacent to?) some non-shop things, and it's well-connected by transit. EDIT to add: There are outdoor malls other places, too, and they're sort of in vogue right now. What makes this one different is how well-adapted it is to its surroundings.
- Providence Place Mall (Providence, RI). Built much more recently (1999 or so), it does include a parking deck but isn't surrounded by asphalt in all directions. It's got entrances that are right off a relatively walkable street, with a couple transit connections (and it's about two blocks from the main central transit station). Internally, it feels nothing like a classic greybox mall: it's five stories with shops on both sides, and lots of windows give it plenty of natural light. It felt much more like a part of downtown than an alternative to it.
So basically, it's possible to set up your mall in such a way that it steers clear of the major problems plaguing malls; and there's certainly reason to think that reinvention rather than abandonment is the mall's likeliest future.
- ams6110 13y agoCombining residential spaces with malls is an interesting idea. There are a lot of builing codes that now require ground-floor retail on any residential buildings over a certain number of floors, but I've never seen or thought about revitalizing malls by adding a residential component. One downside would be that the parking starts to get taken up by residents rather than shoppers.
- spiralpolitik 13y agoWhich is why you combine shopping, residential spaces, and transit hubs so that owning a car becomes optional rather than required. For a bonus you add employment spaces so that people can live, work, and shop in their communities.
- cmbaus 13y agoI took a business meeting in Houston one time, and my colleague kept telling me that the office was "in the mall." That seemed very odd to me, but there was a massive office building attached to the mall. Not a bad idea I guess considering the summer weather in Houston.
- analog31 13y agoThe common thread: Transit.
- fudged71 13y agoI grew up in Calgary. In my opinion, West Edmonton Mall has been dying over the years. There are several corners of the mall that feel really gross to be in. They got rid of the submarines that I enjoyed as a kid. And it no longer feels new. I don't know if the recent renovations have changed anything, but it would be great to hear someone from Edmonton chime in.
- hnnewguy 13y ago>And it no longer feels new. I lived in Edmonton for a few years. I left in 2010. Before I moved there from Ontario, the West Edmonton Mall was legendary. I remember going to the West Ed. for the first time; it felt like a mall just like any other, anywhere. Outside of the sheer size, I wasn't impressed.
- ccurtsinger 13y agoThe Mall of America, from the same developers as the West Edmonton Mall, is another good exception. The mall is massive, but the interior spaces feel like the outdoors. This is partly because of the live plants and bright sunlight filling the theme park in the middle, and partly because of the fresh air from their fascinating climate control system. It's also well-connected to public transit. Outdoor malls don't do as well in the winter months in Minnesota, but MOA appears to be doing well enough since they have a massive expansion underway.
- zyxley 13y agoI think the Pioneer Place mall in Portland, OR would be another interesting example. It's made of four separate buildings in the middle of downtown (underground parking only), connected by underground sections and skywalks, and directly adjacent to tram and bus transit stops. The buildings have an open atrium-style design, with skylight roofs that provide natural light all the way down to the connecting basement level.