Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept • Hacker News Board

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#41

Post by mawburn » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:09 PM UTC

buildbuildbuild wrote: post #24

mawburn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the question is if the space can be used, but whether or not there are legitimate uses of the space that can also make up for ongoing maintenance costs of such large structures. I honestly don't think it can. I've seen them turned into office spaces, but it's really not an efficient use of space and the lack of sunlight/windows just makes it depressing. As far as demolishing goes, most malls really aren…

Rackspace purchased a mall a few years back and transformed it into an office space I've found pleasant during visits. Natural light in their space is mostly from above but there aren't exactly scenic surroundings anyways. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/realestate/commercial/rac...

I hadn't heard of that, but that is really cool use of the space. That actually looks a lot like the facility I work in, but our's was built for the purpose.

That is definitely proof that good space can be built out of it, but are there enough companies who want to build spaces like that compared to the number of dead malls? There are a lot of dead malls. The ones I've seen are much more corporate-like.

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#42

Post by greyfox » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

madcaptenor wrote: post #30

greyfox wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When i was between the ages of 18-21 in the middle of the 07+ economic crisis i noticed all these "abandoned" car dealerships in my area... grocery stores, etc. I always thought a good repurposing of these buildings would've been: -Skate parks or other athletic venue (maybe a gym if the building was the right size?) -Clubs/Dancehalls -Concert Venues -Intermittent Rental for Parties/Weddings things of that nature (you…

One example of this: there's an animal shelter north of Atlanta that used to be a car dealership. http://bgarchitects.com/project/atlanta-humane-society/

yeah in my hometown-Houston there was already a popular nightclub from the 90's (The Roxy?) that was a reused car dealership or some-such so it wasn't too out of the box to be done...its just nightclubs are one thing... healthy athletic alternatives for kids is another (which was my primary idea)

edit: this is a moot point now, but back in the late 90's and early 00's Houston had a serious lack of skateparks which is no longer an issue. Luckily im now an adult and dont really have the time to make use of them like i would've as a kid

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#43

Post by excalibur » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

NedIsakoff wrote: post #10

Stupid ClickBait Headline: "That’s proving difficult, with just a shallow pool of investors who are willing to take on a declining mall and even fewer who would pay what the landlords want." How is that practically giving way? You know what? I'll sell anything you can find in my garage for $2M USD. Anything and all things. Is that pratically giving away?

Depends on what's in your garage.

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#44

Post by p49k » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:11 PM UTC

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #37

codingdave wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be a whole new flavor for YC or other incubators - don't come to SF and fight to find housing... come to the new Coding Mall - offices are in the East Wing, apartment in the West Wing, demos and sales kiosks in the former Sears, VC offices in the former JC Penney, and everyone meets up in the food court (which is still running, btw, to keep everyone fed) for informal discussions.

Zoning makes this prohibitive in most of America unfortunately

They could go the Uber route and completely ignore all laws and regulations and get away with it somehow.

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#45

Post by beamatronic » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:11 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #7

projectramo wrote: post #2

I remember learning that in the 90s some companies had this useless asset: gas pipelines that spanned the country, but had dried up and were not being used. Other companies had a problem: how to acquire the rights to lay fiber from one end of the country to the other. Some very smart person realized you could lay the fiber in the old pipes. Question: what can be done with all that retail space? Is there a new use of…

It could be a whole new flavor for YC or other incubators - don't come to SF and fight to find housing... come to the new Coding Mall - offices are in the East Wing, apartment in the West Wing, demos and sales kiosks in the former Sears, VC offices in the former JC Penney, and everyone meets up in the food court (which is still running, btw, to keep everyone fed) for informal discussions.

Perfect match for WeWork

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#46

Post by jccooper » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:13 PM UTC

projectramo wrote: post #2

I remember learning that in the 90s some companies had this useless asset: gas pipelines that spanned the country, but had dried up and were not being used. Other companies had a problem: how to acquire the rights to lay fiber from one end of the country to the other. Some very smart person realized you could lay the fiber in the old pipes. Question: what can be done with all that retail space? Is there a new use of…

Many are moving towards entertainment. Restaurants, games, that sort of thing. It's a bit hard, though, as those typically don't need as much space as retail, and if they do they can't afford the rates retail could.

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#47

Post by guyzero » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:13 PM UTC

projectramo wrote: post #2

I remember learning that in the 90s some companies had this useless asset: gas pipelines that spanned the country, but had dried up and were not being used. Other companies had a problem: how to acquire the rights to lay fiber from one end of the country to the other. Some very smart person realized you could lay the fiber in the old pipes. Question: what can be done with all that retail space? Is there a new use of…

Zoning can be an issue - there's an abandoned mall in Cupertino that's probably half a mile from the new Apple HQ. And to say it's prime land is an understatement - the entire area is desperate for new housing. Current proposal is for 2,400 housing units on the land.

But previous zoning proposal that were ballot initiatives got defeated (hurray democracy) and it's required a state bill to force the city's hand for zoning. (https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/02/community-reacts-to-d...) But still no agreement between the city and the developers.

I'm sure most malls will be trivial to rezone as cities would rather have something paying taxes rather than nothing but that's not the case everywhere.

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#48

Post by jessaustin » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:14 PM UTC

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #25

jessaustin wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Owners of real estate already pay property taxes. Are you just proposing that those be increased? And you think that will make real estate more valuable? I'm missing something here...

>Are you just proposing that those be increased? Sure, or an additional tax on unused or barely used real estate if we wanted to be targeted, but really I like the broad property tax. >And you think that will make real estate more valuable? No, I'm not trying to make real estate more valuable, actually I'm trying to make it less valuable by ensuring that the high levels of competition we see in booming real estate ti…

Increasing property tax in general is less bad than this "unused or barely used" tax idea. That sounds like a good way to turn all old malls into flea markets. That is, big messy places where anyone can sell anything she wants out of the back of her van, for $5 a day. "Anything she wants" will include a wide variety of items to which neighbors will object strenuously. In addition to the unsavory sales activity, other unsavory activity will also take place. There's no way any taxation scheme will pay for the required extra policing.

I won't be surprised if we don't see this happen...

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#49

Post by 0xfeba » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:15 PM UTC

projectramo wrote: post #2

I remember learning that in the 90s some companies had this useless asset: gas pipelines that spanned the country, but had dried up and were not being used. Other companies had a problem: how to acquire the rights to lay fiber from one end of the country to the other. Some very smart person realized you could lay the fiber in the old pipes. Question: what can be done with all that retail space? Is there a new use of…

Coworking space?

Re: Mall landlords struggling to find takers at a price they’ll accept

#50

Post by codingdave » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 3:16 PM UTC

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #37

codingdave wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be a whole new flavor for YC or other incubators - don't come to SF and fight to find housing... come to the new Coding Mall - offices are in the East Wing, apartment in the West Wing, demos and sales kiosks in the former Sears, VC offices in the former JC Penney, and everyone meets up in the food court (which is still running, btw, to keep everyone fed) for informal discussions.

Zoning makes this prohibitive in most of America unfortunately

Zoning is a matter of negotiation with the city council. If you are going to bring literally dozens of new employers and hundreds of jobs to a struggling smaller town, and revitalize their old mall, I can just about guarantee they will cooperate, including developing a new zone just for the project if needed.