Steve McLinden

Steve McLinden, a freelance business journalist based in Arlington, Texas, is a correspondent for Shopping Centers Today, the trade magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers, and real estate columnist for Bankrate.com, a web site providing information to consumers on financial products.

In the current recession, thousands of stores have been shuttered, new projects have been shelved, rents have been pared, property values have cratered, and retail workers have been sent packing in legions: more than a half million lost their jobs alone in 2008. But as the dust begins to settle and the rolling metal curtains are peeled back for a new sales day, retail is reemerging as a different animal, one that is leaner and keener.
Efforts to find creative solutions for dying malls have increased in these economic times as consultants, city officials, and new urbanists are called on to walk the lonely corridors of the dozens of half-vacant facilities in the United States.

This past summer and fall, Urban Land Institute Advisory Services panels got a firsthand look at a trio of troubled malls at the request of local economic development groups and stakeholders seeking innovative solutions. Findings from the panels suggested that one mall still had strong vital signs, a second would probably perish without prompt attention, and a third was likely to fare better in another format.

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