[Question/Discussion] about what to do with an enormous but tired shopping center
I am a consultant for a CRE firm in Kansas City, MO and my boss asked me to go out to huge, but old strip mall that is way past it's prime and has little to no potential unless we think outside the box for who to bring in. 

The strip mall has basically turned into a ghost town because the city it is in keeps giving businesses incentives to move to a new part of town. The only way this mall will come back is if we make a deal with a unique entertainment venue type company such as top golf or a similar demand generator that people will gladly drive to. 

Here are some pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/CJmJU

A lot of former department stores, an old movie theater. I guess I'm just looking for ideas for unique tenants that people would drive to. Businesses that really do not rely on location because they are such demand generators.
[{"id": "d532ijo", "text": "A former enclosed mall went through conversion to an outdoor lifestyle center a few years ago near me. They kept the 2 floor anchor building, tore down the rest of the mall and put in new inline stores.\n\nSeveral others in my area were demolished and turned into warehousing, or converted to light manufacturing/laboratory space.\n\nEdit: I guess I didn't really give you any tenants. Tear it down, start over with a new to market grocer would be my strategy. ", "replies": [{"id": "d533d8r", "text": "Thanks for the advice!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d53e8o8", "text": "make it greener and do outlets with with a promenade and outdoor walk ways.  something like a tanger outlets.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d53iad2", "text": "[An academic perspective of reviving dead/tired strip malls](https://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_dunham_jones_retrofitting_suburbia?language=en). Probably not the most practical, but may be worth looking at. Jump to 7 minutes in for case studies/ideas without the theory at the beginning of the talk. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d58b73w", "text": "For nostalgia sake, I have to share [deadmalls.com](http://www.deadmalls.com/index.html)", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d59jb84", "text": "What's going on in the surrounding town? Population increasing? Decreasing? Major economic drivers?\n\nIf people are leaving, it may not be worth it to do *anything* to the property in terms of dollar investments, even for tenant improvement expenses. \n\nIf you could share a location (and it'd be understandable if you could not), I'm sure we could give you better advice. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d5amu68", "text": "ULI did a great piece on repositioning urban corridors back in 2011 that focused on how long term structural vacancies occur. Here's an excerpt: \n\n\"Long-term structural vacancies, however, afflict portions of most corridors that developers and communities eye for redevelopment and revitalization. These vacancies exist where household spending is insufficient in the trade area to support the retail building space. When some owners begin asking lower rents, other owners may be forced to lower rents just to maintain their current tenants, leading to a downward spiral in the trade area. The areawide lowering of lease rates leads to lower operating income, which leads to deferred maintenance and a lack of reinvestment over time.\"  http://urbanland.uli.org/economy-markets-trends/repositioning-urban-corridors/\n\nTheir solution at the time is to consider what they call \"linear villages\". Give it a read. It may get the creative juices flowing.\n\nHowever, to @spencerassess's point, the viability of any solution has everything to do with demographics and economics so it very well may be a leave it alone scenario.\n\nCheers!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]