Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall

A strip mall redevelopment project in a small Texas town shows how excess parking can be repurposed to create new housing. 

According to a piece by Tiffany Owens Reed for the Parking Reform Network, the adaptive reuse project is a partnership between an incremental real estate developer and Habitat for Humanity, which will build 16 affordable townhouse units on the site. “The properties will provide not just an opportunity to own a home for residents, but also a chance to save money on car ownership by locating them in a more central part of the city with better access to shops, amenities and jobs.”

Explaining his approach to incremental development, developer Monte Anderson offers a few pointers: work in your own backyard; embrace the value of small projects; and embrace partnerships. 

A proposed Texas state bill, Senate Bill 840, could make it easier to do this type of development by allowing property owners “ to build mixed-use and multifamily housing by-right on land they own in commercial and retail districts.” For now, according to Anderson, “Coordinating with other property owners adjacent to the parking lot and securing the necessary platting, infrastructure, financing and approvals are tasks for only the most persistent. But with the right partnerships and with city leadership willing to collaborate and see the adaptive reuse as a long-term investment in its own financial future, it just might be possible.”