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BeachAdjacent t1_jdvzcj3 wrote

I'd rather see pre-existing hardscape be converted before we plow down even more wild scaping. Even narrow bands of wildflowers along a highway can be incredibly beneficial for native and migratory fauna and pollinators. Crystal Mall in Waterford and the Westbrook Outlet are both essentially dead. Instead of courting amazon to convert them into megawarehouses, could they be renovated into housing?

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kayakyakr t1_jdwgzju wrote

IIRC, that was the plan for Crystal Mall in Waterford.

This kind of mall conversion can be incredibly successful, and was mixed retail and residential was actually part of the original design for a shopping mall. The Arcade in Providence is a good example of a converted mall, though it is also a pretty small mall overall.

Converting malls to mixed use also opens up their hardscape for redevelopment. Those parking lots don't need to be near as big when it's not all retail.

Another conversion that worked out includes Highland Mall in Austin that became the new Austin Community College main campus. Doubled the classroom capacity of ACC, plus added on-campus housing for the first time.

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