Williams: Malls’ remnants hold lessons on growth
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Suburban renewal
The moribund efforts to redevelop the Azalea and Cloverleaf malls are a cautionary tale of the need for smarter growth.Published: October 27, 2009
Few sights are sadder, or less attractive, than the decaying remains of a dead shopping center.
Malls don't leave a good-looking corpse.
While handsome architecture, prime location or nostalgia helped facilitate the rebirth and reuse of the former Thalhimers, Miller & Rhoads and Berry-Burk department stores, the sites of two former shopping malls at Richmond gateways languish.
Azalea Mall, which straddles the Richmond-Henrico County line on Brook Road, is an asphalt jungle of grass, weeds and trees. Cloverleaf Mall's faded façade portends a similar fate on Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County just outside Richmond.
Cloverleaf Mall, which closed last year, and Azalea Mall, which closed 10 years ago, remain the target of redevelopment efforts. But the regional development patterns that contributed to their demise continue unabated.
More than 150 people caught a glimpse of these acres of emptiness during a Partnership for Smarter Growth bus tour Sunday focusing on suburban revitalization.
Anyone still under the delusion that "suburban blight" is an oxymoron needs a reality check.
"Who could imagine 30 years ago that Chesterfield would have an Office of Revitalization?" said Sheila Sheppard, coordinator of the Partnership for Smarter Growth.
The inner suburbs are graying gracelessly as sprawl devours the connective tissue of our region.
The tour included visits to Cloverleaf, newborn Westchester Commons near Chesterfield's border with Powhatan County, old-school Southside Plaza in Richmond and the fledgling White Oak Village in eastern Henrico.
White Oak Village represents the best and worst of the issue. It was built on an industrial site, so a brown field was reclaimed. It also serves a previously underserved retail area. But overall, the region has 25 percent more retail square footage per capita than the national average, Sheppard said.
Even when the economy improves, Westchester Commons and the Shops at West Broad Village in Short Pump may struggle to fill their storefronts.
Sheppard says we need a vision for development that makes more economic and environmental sense.
"What we've being doing is a pattern of abandonment," she said. "The new consumes the old -- a cannibalistic environment."
To change that, Sheppard suggests a regional visioning process, including diverse viewpoints, similar to what occurred for downtown Richmond.
The goal should be connected, walkable communities, she said. The status quo doesn't meet the needs of the elderly, children or people who cannot afford cars.
And let's face it: Until we address the underlying cause of their death, we'll only create more Cloverleaf and Azalea malls.
"The question is: How many more dead malls do we need before we realize this isn't a good economic-development strategy?" Sheppard said.
In other words, when do we stop the dumb growth?
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or
. Follow him at http://twitter.com/RTDMPW.
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Reader Reactions
Kudos to PSG. We might add that in addition to the malls the older suburban neighborhoods are also beginning to exhibit problems of blight. And what do we get instead of reinvestment or redevelopment? Stretches of West Broad closer to the city that are falling apart, and a brand new development (West Broad Village) that tries to be like the city but is a 20 minute CAR drive from the real city.
With regard to “unruly teens” in malls—I’m sure they can be a nuisance, but where are suburban kids supposed to go? These areas have been planned for cars, not for walking or biking, so if you’re too young (or too old for that matter) to drive, you’re out of luck unless someone’s willing to drop you off at the mall. That’s one of many reasons why a walkable/bikeable city with good transit is so important as a goal for redevelopment efforts. When will the county governments get a grip about sprawl???
What do all those malls have in common? Put that thought aside and apply it to malls around Richmond that fall under the same criteria, but for some are still hanging on. So the conclusion is this. Business is business. Crime isn’t enough to scare away businesses from a shopping mall. I see some of the worst neighborhoods around Richmond with very successful businesses still in operation and doing well. But why do those malls with high crime rate fail in some areas and not others. Sounds more like it has to do with what those places do to the real estate value to the surrounding homes and other businesses. So the reason why those malls hanging on by a thread are still there is because the surrounding homes are already not worth that much anymore, and no matter how much of a blight the mall may be, it actually raises the real estate value.
Great article, MPW. I was on the Partnership for Smart Growth tour. To see a old mall within a mile of the new White Oak mall was appalling. WHY couldn’t they have re-used the existing space? HOW CAN WE GET THE SUPERVISORS and city council members to get on board and stop being so short sighted? AND to lead to better public transportation? WHAT can the average citizen do? I for one have already contacted Bruce Tyler in my area. (PSG is a great organization…very rational. Not a “no growth”, just SMART growth.
It’s sad.. I used to go to Cloverleaf quite often w/an old boyfriend to eat dinner. It was clear to see it’s demise as there were fewer and fewer shoppers and more and more groups of posturing and unruly teens taking up space in the common areas of the mall. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that malls seem to be able to do to prevent that type of situation occuring. Any attempt to regulate the loitering ends up being percieved as violating someone’s rights.
It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I remember getting pushed out of the way as groups of them would walk down the aisles.. not moving aside (or going single or double file) for anyone. (I am not saying that they should have all stepped aside for me.. but if you are in a group of 12 and are walking opposite a couple or an individual.. certainly you can make room for them to pass as well?).
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