Sick Mall Turnaround Specialists

"A 30-year real-estate veteran, Mr. Daniel is one of a growing cadre of professionals who specialize in resuscitating dying shopping malls. His remedy for Coventry -- a multipronged effort including store shuffling, ejecting poor performers, attracting desirable tenants and general renovation -- is part of a wider struggle on the margins of malldom: The country has too many malls, and many just aren't going to make it... Malls are expensive to demolish and nearly impossible to convert to another use. Dead malls are often crime scenes and a drain on local tax rolls. The landscape is already pocked with dead or dying eyesores, such as Dixie Square in Harvey, Ill.; River Roads in Jennings, Mo.; and Beloit Plaza, in Beloit, Wis. And dozens more are on the margins, creating a growing market for turnaround specialists, which include national powers Jones Lang Lasalle and Urban Retail Properties Co., both based in Chicago."