While many U.S. malls face anchor store closures and empty parking lots, some are finding new life by becoming housing. Real estate developers are building housing inside of or next to shopping malls as department stores like Macy’s, JCPenney and Sears shrink or cease to exist. At least 192 U.S. malls planned to add housing to their footprint as of January 2022. Dozens of apartment projects at malls are underway in California, Colorado, Florida, Arizona and Texas. The trend not only helps to chip away the housing shortage in the U.S., but also brings people closer to the remaining retail and restaurant spaces in shopping centers. CNBC visited a Macerich housing project at Flatiron Crossing Mall in Broomfield, Colorado as well as the Arcade Mall in Providence, Rhode Island to find out what it is like to live inside a mall.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:13: Chapter 1 – Living in a mall
4:45: Chapter 2 – The new anchor store: housing
6:59: Chapter 3 – Challenges
CREDITS
Produced by: DeLon Thornton
Senior Producer and Camera: Shawn Baldwin
Edited by: Evan Lee Miller
Reporter: Gabrielle Fonrouge
Graphics by: Jason Regniato
Additional Camera: Juliana Broste
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
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How Shopping Malls Are Being Transformed Into Apartments In The U.S.
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And do the residents of those shopping malls have any advantages?
Discount on shopping in the stores of the mall where they live?
Discount on food at the mall?
What about after-hours security of the stores in the mall?
The mall in Providence is small, so it's easy to figure out who can be there after hours, but what about a larger mall?
In a larger shopping center, criminals can hide anywhere.
Is there a security team that checks/sweep the mall after hours?
What about visitors?
Are you allowed to have friends or family to visit you after the shops are closed?
What is the price to rent a micro apartment in the mall in Providence?
What are the additional costs you have to pay for cleaning, maintenance and electricity, security, etc… of the common space?
I assume that every resident has a key or access card to enter the mall after closing time, but what about the lighting?
Will the mall be fully lit all night or is the lighting controlled by sensors and only the places where people are going are lit or is there minimal lighting of the common areas at night?
Are you allowed, as a resident to walk around let say at 2am in the mall or sit on a bench in a bigger mall?
Some normal issues not handled in the report.
I would like to live there! Pretty neat! 🙏😊
I like this idea. Parking would be a pain in the neck though
There IS NOT a housing crisis. Miami market is collapsing with the rest of FL, Texas is bloated with inventory, the media is lying to us all.
What a great idea ❤
OMG!!!
This is perfect
This is exactly what single people need
As long as they keep the rents freezable
The fact that people are considering these tiny places as viable places to live is depressing and a sign of the times.
Most single working people do not need a full size apartment
Just a roof over them
It's pretty much just a place to store your things in and a place to sleep when you're not working
Nice prison.
This is a cool concept 😊
It looks almost like a glorified prison.
I noticed that she has to make a lot of "small compromises" to live there, given how small the living spaces are and the fact that you can't have a stove or oven.
I found that one of these apartments goes for $1,700 a month! And only one person can live in these things. There isn't enough living space for two people.
To put this into perspective, I live in a house with a Nice sized yard in North Carolina. It's a two-bedroom, one bath and almost 900 square feet. I'm paying about $1,200 a month, and I live there with my wife and daughter.
I don't see how these apartments are worth the price.
Electric stoves dont have an open flame…
Sounds like the plan for 15 minute cities, you will own nothing, and you will be happy, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
So tl;dr, americans discover the concept of multi-functional urban planning, almost one century too late. Better late than never!
Shops you can walk to..
A unipue experience in the US.. which is downright sad..
its the norm pretty much everywhere else
I dont know about usa but mall in asia are vibes and full of entertainment maybe becasue here weather is too hot so people love indoor activities
I would like this, great for the residents and for the retailers. Keeps the local space alive and maintained, good for all 👍
15 minute cities. It sounds awesome but think about how you basically never live. Why not make this into something to help the homeless instead.
You sure would need your entry door locked all the time.
There should be a law that makes this mandatory. As soon as a mall closes, it becomes a residential area. But no luxury condos and no Airbnb because both are part of the housing crisis problem.
This is a beautiful place and an ingenious idea. We have the same problem over here in England. So many shopping centres are full of empty units. I’m not sure I agree with ‘investors’ buying them up for holiday let’s though.
No windows .
3:00 Huh? Have they not heard of electric stoves/ranges? No open flame.
There's no housing shortage. There's an affordability shortage. There's the difference.
"no open flames so no stove" strikes me that this is a perfect opportunity for induction cooktop "
Liberals…
Office blocks as well.
Wow! They invented downtown.
I wonder where the Arcade residents park.
In 2020 the units went condo. There is a unit that is listed for $155,000 It has one bed and one bath over 335 square feet. There are a few units that are 900 square feet.
I love it I would love to live there
Maybe bigger than NYC apartments..?
So … American have learned to build European towns … indoors.
There are no windows looking out!! Where's the sun? The fresh air? What a claustrophobic disaster 😢
Of COURSE Airbnb had to come in and take over this market as well. Aren’t you guys making housing bad enough?!
Democrats are to blame for everything wrong in america. Traitors