Business & Development

Business & Development / Business Guide

Introduction | Economic Development Insight | Business Survey

Economic Development Insight

Mixed-Use Redevelopment

- The Mixed-Use Concept
- Public Sector Involvement
- Industry Trends
- Examples

Industry Trends

For the real opportunities today, look at obsolescent properties in excellent locations as land plays. You knock what’s there down and start over. Successful metropolitan areas will be those that redevelop and strengthen existing neighborhoods and districts, integrating residential with commercial and recreational uses, rather than expanding and diffusing resources outward.
[Emerging Trends in Real Estate 1999, p. 24]

The challenge is avoiding the easy solution or quick fix that only perpetuates suburban decline. When malls die, local coffers shrink, and government officials typically look to fill the gap with a lower order of strip retail or outlet centers that restore some level of sales and property taxes. But that approach is only the proverbial band-aid on an open wound.
[Greyfields into Goldfields]

Trend lines are clear. Better suburbs will increasingly take on the positive aspects of larger 24-hour cities – multifaceted environments with a critical density of prime residential neighborhoods, a thriving business environment, and service retail integrated together.
[Greyfields into Goldfields]

In the ever-spreading suburban expanse, greyfield malls offer the opportunity to overcome past mistakes or the greater risk of heading down the same old dead ends.
[Greyfields Into Goldfields, p. 8-9]

The local government can be a hurdle or an ally. The case studies illustrate many ways in which public agencies are supporting successful projects. Without their support, progress would have been slow or impossible.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 14]

There are places where the private sector lacks the training and talent for new urbanist redevelopment projects. This means that the City or some entity with financial capacity must be willing and able to take on the risks of acting as a master developer.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 14]

Sometimes the basic ingredients for retail success are gone. Victor Dover, principal at Dover, Kohl and Partners, has helped design several greyfield sites. Rather than struggling to find a way to keep the sites going as retail developments, he recommends that town leaders look for opportunities in the site. “Sometimes a mall goes out of business because it has lost its economic reason for being. But almost every community needs something. Stop thinking about these as failed shopping center properties and start thinking about them as potential mixed-use properties,” Victor Dover, principal at Dover,Kohl and Partners.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 20]

To stop the cycle of obsolescence and start building durable neighborhoods, real estate professionals must break out of the single-use development model.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 21]

Build real public space. The reasons for moving from single-use to mixed-use are generally practical, not theoretical. Typically, the trade area is adequately served by various types of single-use properties such as shopping malls, office parks, large open spaces, and residential subdivisions. However, the communities often lack a center where residents and visitors can come together in a way that creates a sense of place, identity, and community.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 27]

Twelve case studies in the book. Almost every project received public funding or fiscal incentives. Two of the centers are publicly owned and two more are on public ground leases. On average, those not owned outright by a public agency received approximately 25 percent of their total development costs in subsidy, typically through infrastructure construction and land assembly assistance. On average the new developments have 37 percent less retail than the previous mall.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 57]

An essential element of mall revitalization is local government participation. ….local governments have invested financially in almost every success story in this book. In some, the government has ongoing involvement in management and development. Phalen Vilage Center and Park Forest are government owned and developed.
[Greyfields into Goldfields, p. 28]

Sources:
Greyfields Into Goldfields – Dead Malls Become Living Neighborhoods, by Lee Sobel – published by Congress for New Urbanism

Matt Shad
Deputy City Manager-Economic Development
City Manager's Office
City of Upper Arlington
3600 Tremont Road
Upper Arlington, Ohio 43221
Phone: 614-583-5046
www.ua-ohio.net