Exit Strategy For 'Big Box Blight'

"City planners say that anyone who wants to build a giant discount store such as a Wal-Mart or Target -- a staple of Charlotte suburbs for decades -- must also provide the means for the city to destroy the building if the store closes and remains empty.The new policy also requires big boxes to be part of larger, mixed-use developments that include other stores, offices, even apartments -- and meet higher architectural standards than the usual windowless shells that give the buildings their name."