The mall of the future will not have stores
The mall in Dearborn, Michigan had only 72% leased, and among the available space was that of a very large former anchor store. A casual phone call to Ford Motor Co. to sell him some ads at the mall turned out to be the factor that changed the game. In April, Ford moved all of its engineering and purchasing staff to the space that once occupied the chain Lord & Taylor. Ford is now the largest renter of the mall, with 22,296.7 square feet of space.
"Our relationship began as good neighbors," said Michael Powers, Starwood's vice president of leasing. "Then we discovered that they were in the market looking for office space. It was a little random."
As retailers are closing physical stores at an ever-increasing rate, mall owners such as Starwood Capital are facing the big question: What do you do with all this empty space?
Their solutions are varied, but they all have one common element: reducing, or even eliminating, the retail of the equation.
Some landlords occupy empty spaces with churches, profit-making schools, and random companies while thinking about a long-term plan. Others see a future in mixed-use real estate, turning malls into a set of streets with restaurants, offices and homes. And some are demolishing the properties completely and turning them into industrial or entertainment parks.
Ford's 10-year lease at Fairlane Town Center "brought 1,800 to 2,000 people employed on our property, people who get paid," Powers said. The mall, which still has anchor stores like Macy's, JC Penney and Sears, currently has 91% leased, he said, and food operators are doing better on the day than before, when Ford employees flock to to have lunch.
Ford was pleased with how close the mall was to its facilities in Dearborn, which will be rebuilt over the next 10 years, and its wide open spaces.
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