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Experts say Atlanta, Las Vegas, and retail hubs in California and Florida are at real economic risk if thousands of more stores shutter in 2009.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the recession leaves more retail casualties in its wake, rising store bankruptcies and mall closures could have devastating economic consequences.
Infill Development
Infill is the development of vacant or abandoned land in an area that is otherwise built out. This provides a number of advantages. First, it concentrates development in areas where infrastructure such as public transit and sewer and water already exist, rather than in undeveloped "greenfields." In this way, traffic and air pollution may be reduced, and lower-income residents are given access to a wider range of jobs.
Second, infill development improves surrounding communities by eliminating vacant lots and abandoned buildings, which may be crime and public health hazards.
Third, infill development provides a greater range of housing types. Whereas suburban development tends to create single-family homes, infill development can result in a variety of housing types, thereby increasing the appeal of neighborhoods. Larger projects often combine mixed commercial and residential uses, thus bringing new jobs as well.
Unfortunately, infill development tends to be more expensive for developers because of factors like site cleanup, zoning permits, small-scale building, and costs associated with addressing community members' concerns. In the long run, however, infill is cost-effective for taxpayers. Building and maintaining new roads, sewers, fire stations and schools for sprawling areas costs far more, not to mention the other social costs of sprawl: air pollution, loss of open space, and inequality.
Good Jobs First: Smart Growth for Working Families, Building Rehab & Infill (http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/smart_growth/building_rehab.cfm - broken link)
Alot of the mall problems IMO have to do witrh now they are setup. They rely on major larger draw stores that bring in customers to the rest of the smaller stores. Many times these are more highend draw stores called magnet stores in mall lingo. The problem how is that people are more drawn to the discount super centers.I know I ahte the hassel of so many walkers and teens at the local malls.
The last two times I have gone to the mall over the last couple of weeks I could not even find a parking spot! It was so full I had to park at a sandwich shop across the parking lot from the mall. And this is in a "lower end" part of town. Apparently things are not to shabby around here.
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Well, hammy, if you are in Minneapolis that means you are near the one mall I have always wanted to visit....The Mall of America. I know it is unpopular to say this, but I LOVE malls. When I visit a new place , even a foreign city, they are one of the first places I visit. I am not sure why (probably those "gathering" genetic codes ....)
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Here in Rochester our mall is almost dead. Of course it's been that way loooong before this recession started. Usually the only people you see are teens hanging out in the winter. They aren't buying anything (some are shoplifting though), they just need a warm place to hang out in. My co-workers have informed me that the mall is mostly empty all day.
Well, hammy, if you are in Minneapolis that means you are near the one mall I have always wanted to visit....The Mall of America. I know it is unpopular to say this, but I LOVE malls. When I visit a new place , even a foreign city, they are one of the first places I visit. I am not sure why (probably those "gathering" genetic codes ....)
yep - I am near the MOA. We are on the other side of town though so it is a 45 minute drive to get there but we go about once a month. I love malls too. They are interesting to me.
I agree with someone in the linked article that we have over-built retail outlets. For some reason, developers seem to think every empty space should be filled with some sort of store. Other than grocery stores, drug stores, cleaners etc., and maybe some food outlets, we don't need every store on every corner - malls included. If the retailers were more concentrated in one area rather than spread all over town, I don't think the malls would be hurting so much. But if I am shopping for a book or a toaster oven, I don't have to go to a mall to do it. I can go to a big strip center and shop at Bed Bath & Beyond or Barnes and Noble. Even here in Houston where the economy is fairly healthy, developers can't seem to stop paving every square inch of available land and then they sit vacant for years sometimes. "Back in the day" when cities had all their shopping outlets concentrated in a downtown area, that's where everyone went to shop. Now they no longer congregate in single stop locations and that is why malls are suffering so.
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