Five years ago, Graham Weston, the chairman and co-founder of Rackspace, had a wild vision to transform an abandoned mall into his company's headquarters. His unique approach has revitalized the adjacent city of Windcrest, a suburb of San Antonio.
"As ruefully documented on the Web site Deadmalls.com," writes Kate Murphy, "the recession has shuttered scores of enclosed malls in the United States, and estate analysts at the CoStar Group predict that at least 10 percent of the remaining 1,500 malls will fail in the next few years." The Windsor Park Mall was just another statistic until Weston decided to convert the abandoned building into a one-of-a-kind work environment.
"I thought, This is going to be awesome!" said Weston. "But everybody else pretty much thought I was crazy." Lanham Napier, the chief executive at Rackspace, admitted, "[a] lot of Rackers worked at Foot Locker in the mall, and the last thing they wanted to do is go away to school, get the fancy degree and come back and work at the mall." After an investment of over $100 million, the mall now comfortably houses the employees along with amenities including a two-story slide, a life-size chessboard, an exercise room, themed conference rooms, and recreation areas.
While some dead malls have been resurrected as mixed-used buildings, Rackspace's project "is unique in that it is the exclusive owner and occupant." Murphy adds, "The project suggests that there might be hidden opportunities in the nation's glut of dead and dying malls and represents one of the country's largest and quirkiest recycling efforts."
In addition to representing the values of the company, the mall cum office park has been a boon to Windcrest, which expects to be debt-free by 2014 as a result of a substantial increase in tax revenue.
FULL STORY: Revitalizing a Dead Mall (Don’t Expect Shoppers)

Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.

Minneapolis Housing Plan a Success—Not for the Reason You Think
Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.

Car Noise Is Killing Us
It’s not just traffic collisions that kill—a new study from researcher at Rutgers finds that the loud noises emanating from cars has direct impact on heart health in Americans.

Parks as a Weapon Against Climate Change
The 2022 ParkScore finds that cities are increasingly employing green space as a tool for mitigating heat and extreme weather effects, but the distribution of parks remains inequitable.

Louisiana Capital Shifting to Electric Transit
The Baton Rouge area is now served by a fleet of nine all-electric buses.

New Community Engagement Practices for Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan Update
A major update of Seattle’s comprehensive plan is just getting under way, with new opportunities for local groups to get involved with outreach and engagement.
City of Malibu
EMC Planning Group Inc.
Jefferson Parish
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard GSD Executive Education
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
City of Lakeway, Texas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.