The End of Enclosed Malls?

"The stand-alone mall isn't dead. It's just dysfunctional. That was one of the sentiments expressed at an Urban Land Institute panel that tackled the question, 'Can stand-alone malls survive?' The question was posed Thursday, during ULI's annual Reinventing Retail conference at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles."

"The heart of the matter is not so much that retail developers today are planning retail spaces, 'It's more about urban planning,' commented panelist Yaromir Steiner, chief executive officer of Columbus, OH-based Steiner + Associates. Steiner said that much of the redevelopment of existing shopping centers and the building of new centers today amounts to urban planning because it involves so much more than just the retail component of a project."

"Nonetheless, Jones said that some of the country's most successful enclosed malls, such as South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, will survive. It's the A-minus and B malls that will need to be reinvented, he said, but the owners of those properties will need to put some thought into their plans. 'You can't just stick some outdoor on an enclosed mall and have it work,' he said."