Replacing Dead Malls Can Be a Struggle (partly due to regulations)

See In White Plains, N.Y., the Long Death of an Old Mall: Many people think dying malls should be torn down and housing built in their place, but the process still often takes years by Kate King of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The long-decaying White Plains Mall is dead and buried, with developers set to break ground this week on the first phase of a $650 million project to build hundreds of apartments in its place. It is an outcome that is widely welcomed, but has taken years to come to fruition.

There is no shortage of dying malls in the U.S., where aging shopping centers, in particular, have declined due to changing shopping habits, e-commerce and competition from newer malls. These large, well-located properties attract interest from developers, and town officials are typically eager to see them revitalized.

But converting enclosed shopping centers remains a difficult feat. About one-fifth of the malls that have fully closed since 1992 remain standing without a redevelopment plan in place, according to Green Street, a commercial real-estate analytics firm."

"Recognizing, however, that the property was outdated and that the property was better suited to housing, its owner proposed in 2016 razing the mall and building hundreds of apartments as well as street-level retail and restaurants. It took two years to obtain zoning approvals from the city and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements with the county’s industrial development agency"