Oldest Mall In America Was Dead, But Has Come Back To Life In Unexpected Way

It may have been dead, but the oldest mall in America is coming back to life and in the most unexpected way.

Arcade Providence was among a long list of indoor, enclosed malls in the United States that was dying a slow and painful death. But one developer has turned the oldest mall in America into an affordable apartment community.

“Rather than let the historic Rhode Island mall waste away, Northeast Collaborative Architects (NCA) transformed Arcade Providence into a hotspot for micro-loft living. The adaptive reuse, mixed-use project includes 48 incredibly charming tiny apartments, with rent starting at just $550 a month,” Inhabitat reports.

The mall, which Inhabitat reports was build back in 1828 and closed in 2008, saw $7 million in renovations and now instead of a wasting money pit in the heart of Providence, it has brought retail back to the area and residents living in affordable “micro” apartments.

“When the mall closed down in 2008, developer and micro-housing enthusiast Evan Granoff purchased the mall with plans to renovate and modernize the arcade, while respecting its historic design. The $7 million adaptive reuse project transformed the mall into a mixed-use building, with shops on the ground floor and micro-apartments on the top two floors.”

The oldest mall in America now hosts 48 of the micro apartments, which hosts a long list of individuals clamoring for cheap rent in a historic building brought back to life.

The death of Arcade Providence and other malls like it have been a long process, with multiple factors combining to create the perfect storm. First, you have online shopping, which has hurt both malls and the cities that rely on those malls for sales tax revenues. The other factor is the development of mixed-use properties like the reborn Arcade Providence and so-called “lifestyle centers” that have shifted retailing to strip centers and “outdoor” malls.

“Estimates on the share that might close or be repurposed in coming decades range from 15 to 50%. Americans are returning downtown; online shopping is taking a 6% bite out of brick-and-mortar sales; and to many iPhone-clutching, city-dwelling and frequently jobless young people, the culture that spawned satire like Mallrats seems increasingly dated, even cartoonish,” The Guardian reported in November 2014.

Retail consultant Howard Davidowitz put it in blunt terms for The Guardian, explaining that young people starting careers or struggling to even find a part-time job “don’t have the f***ing money. That’s it. This isn’t rocket science.”

While the oldest mall in America was able to rebound from the economic hit that caused its closure in 2008, it is less certain that other retail centers will find the same rebound possible. The problem continues to worsen for retailers who anchor the malls.

Macy’s was one of the companies who recently announce a downsizing of stores, with Yahoo! Finance predicting the closures as early as November of last year. The cause?

“The continued secular shift to e-commerce spending has become the most important shift in retail over recent years, and e-commerce behemoth Amazon (AMZN), up 113% in the last year, has remained a consistent winner,” wrote Yahoo!‘s Nicole Sinclair.

The one bright spot for retailing? Sinclair notes the positive sales for Apple and home-improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s, stores she said continue to benefit from a rebounding housing market.

She also notes that while Macy’s was set to close many stores this year, it could open additional stores considered to be bargain stores. The brand, known as “Backstage,” is an outlet-like store for Macy’s that may save some of the nation’s oldest malls from going bust, but the 50 or more “Backstage” stores the company plans to roll out in coming years could still leave a hole when additional Macy’s stores close across America.

[Featured Photo by Stan Honda/Getty Images]