New life for old malls?

KCLofts · Post by **KCLofts** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 10:09 am

I saw a segment on TV about Winter Park Village in Florida. They basically leveled the old Winter Park Mall and turned it into an "urban village." The new development still has shops, restaurants and entertainment, but in a more pedestrian-friendly village configuration. There is also office space. The only piece of the mall not demolished was a big department store. This is being converted into loft apartments.

I would love to see something like this done in KC. Metcalf South, Bannister, or even Indian Springs would be good candidates.

Post by **dangerboy** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:15 pm

MARC has proposed exactly this kindof thing for Antioch Mall, it is a main example in their handbook for transit-supportive development. Unfortunately they have not found any developers interested in taking them up on the offer.

DanCa · Post by **DanCa** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 2:44 pm

Wasn't this on HGTV's "Dreambuilders" the other day? What a great way to redevelop an old mall. Not to mention it attracts people back to an older part of town.

They've discussed doing this type of development for aging strip malls here in CA also. I hope it catches on.