America's housing shortage is so dire that politicians are looking left, right, beneath their feet, and downtown to see what can be done with residential buildings. Due to a lack of construction work for nearly a decade, 3 million to 6 million homesyoung Americans have roommates, family members, or refrain upon Buy a house absolutely.
However, there are areas of real estate that are widely available but underutilized and can have a significant impact on this number.long suffering retailStrip malls, shopping centers, dead malls and their ilk can be turned into hundreds of thousands of new apartments across the country with just a little effort.
According to a November report, converting just 10% of underperforming retail stores into housing could create 700,000 new units nationwide. Enterprise Community Partner. It's just a drop in the bucket, America's millions of housing shortages, which could make a big difference in some communities. In the Boston area, converting just 10% of strip malls is enough to absorb all of the region's population growth over the next decade, according to a 2021 report. study From the Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Council. (A property doesn't have to be completely empty to be a good candidate for adding housing. Also, many residential conversions in this study maintain their ground floor shops in apartment buildings. ).
„I think this has great potential across the United States,“ said June Williamson, a professor of architecture at the City University of New York and co-author of several books on building reuse. luck.
„All of the land that has already been developed for retail use and is scattered at very low densities across the United States has the capacity to accommodate all types of housing,” she added.
To be sure, just because a radical change can occur doesn't mean it will happen. Converting retail to residential also presents unique physical and political challenges. Still, an important reason why the conversion of dead retail stores is a far more promising solution to the housing crisis than office-to-apartment projects, which turned out to be much more expensive and scarce than originally thought. there is. And there are key reasons why it's still only a possibility at this point, but not actually happening.
retail is everywhere
Decades of sprawl-oriented development have left the United States with an excess of retail space. According to him, there are 116,000 shopping centers nationwide. ICSC (Formerly International Council of Shopping Centers). This includes large shopping malls as well as smaller hubs like downtown shopping centers and strip malls.
„Strip malls are ubiquitous and ubiquitous, but they often underperform,“ said Marc Racicot, director of land use planning at MAPC. luck. “In many cases, they are already integrated into the community.”
Although not all retail businesses are underperforming, many are, and economic conditions make it unlikely that they will improve. According to 2023 statistics, approximately 50,000 stores are expected to close across the United States over the next five years. UBS report.
Dozens of shopping malls have already made the switch to include housing. In Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, New York, an abandoned Sears building has been transformed into 157 units of low-income and senior housing. Skyview Park Apartments;The development opened in 2022. In Santa Ana, California, a low-rise strip mall has been transformed into a community center. 55 Apartments. and in Aurora, Illinois. Fox Valley Mall has been renovated with 304 units, another mall in Vernon Hills, Illinois, currently has 311 homes. Both developments will include shared amenities and retail space, said David Dewell, principal with the National Architecture and Urban Design firm. El Dorado,Tell you luck.
„It's too early to say it's a success, but there's no doubt that the combination of uses will make these luxury products even more appealing,“ Dowell says.
As of 2022, approximately 200 shopping malls across the United States had plans to add housing units, according to the report. orange county register; 33 had made such plans since the pandemic began.
Office conversions are difficult, but retail stores are less difficult
For a brief moment in the early post-pandemic period, offices seemed like a silver bullet to solving the housing shortage. Remote and hybrid work has created a large amount of unused office space. 1 billion square feet By the turn of the decade, some began to question the repurposing of this empty space as housing.
However, the flood of office conversions was rather a trickle. According to the July 2023 report, only about 30 office-to-residential projects came online each year between 2016 and 2021. deloitte study. And at the time of the investigation, Only 217 such conversion projects It's in the immediate pipeline.
Julie Whelan, global head of occupancy research at CBRE, previously said, „If you look at the area that has been converted since 2016 and is scheduled to be converted by 2025, that's only 90 million square feet.“ Told. luck. “The transformation that has happened and is underway is really just a drop in the bucket of empty seats that are out there.”
So why aren't developers and politicians doing more to promote these types of conversion projects? Because they often cost more and take longer than new construction. In fact, in the February report, goldman sachs To tell Office acquisition prices need to fall by nearly 50% These projects are considered „financially viable“ given how much upfront work is required and the still expensive price of office space. Brick-and-mortar retail stores have also been hurt by the pandemic and the resulting surge in e-commerce. However, unused retail space is often easier to convert into housing than a vacant office building.
Most mall redevelopments include retail, residential, and other close-space uses, rather than eliminating retail altogether. This means developers are now looking to build what they call „18-hour precincts“, or live-work-play centres, where residents can essentially get the most bang for their buck. It's consistent with what we're focusing on. In other words, you can live in or very close to where you shop and work without spending extra money on travel. It's also a good deal for the remaining retailers who will benefit from increased foot traffic in the area.
And because the infrastructure to support these mixed-use spaces already exists in retail centers, vacant storefronts in malls rather than office buildings may be better suited for such developments, says the National Institute for Architecture, Engineering and Planning. said Kurt Volkmann, vice principal of the company HED. luckas mall locations often have existing infrastructure such as parking and access to public transportation.
“These spaces are now an opportunity for redevelopment. Their large floor plates and location on the edge of retail development provide flexibility when converting into residential, entertainment or commercial space,” Volkman said. says. “Developers who seize this opportunity to transform retail centers built in another era into mixed-use spaces that meet today's challenges will reshape retail for a more profitable future. Sho.“
Additionally, retail stores have more space. Mall designs often include vast amounts of empty concrete, one or a few large, low-rise buildings surrounded by vast parking lots. That makes it relatively easy for developers to use the extra parking space to add buildings to their projects, according to City College's Williamson. Existing retail stores can be converted into medical, office, or residential spaces.
And converting malls to housing „could happen much faster than new construction because there is existing construction on land that already has at least one type of development allowed,“ Dowell said. To tell.
“Developers don't have to look for land to build on or obtain permits for construction, tree removal, etc.,” he says. „Our biggest immediate concern is getting the redevelopment plan approved by the local government.“
Not everything is smooth sailing
Still, in addition to timing issues, mall redevelopment projects also have their own drawbacks. The open layout of these buildings lends itself to more flexible design, but lighting and utility work can be an issue depending on the property.
Shopping malls are built with a small number of windows, so living spaces require a certain level of window-to-floor ratio to allow residents to have natural light throughout their units, so „architectural interventions“ We need to deal with it,“ Dowell said.
“Homes require plumbing, electricity, heating, cooling, and ventilation, as well as other types of infrastructure such as WiFi and cable TV service,” Dowel says. “Shopping malls have these, but they are likely not easily adaptable to residential use and would require significant upgrades and modifications.”