MIX AND MATCH: TRADITIONAL MALLS ARE OUT MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS ARE IN: HERE'S HOW TO TURN OLD INVESTMENTS INTO NEW ONES.

• Author: Foreman, Kelsie

If you've found yourself perusing the shops at a retail mall looking for a new pair of shoes or jeans, you've probably noticed that your shopping center is looking a little emptier these days. Due to the rise of ecommerce and Amazon, an increasing number of consumers choose to buy their goods online, rather than in-store, leaving the traditional shopping mall looking for new ways to innovate.

Consumers today are looking for convenience, a one-stop shop where they can purchase anything they could ever need. They're looking for more than your stereotypical retail mall. Based on consumer wants, today's retail malls are in need of massive redevelopments. Ones that transform a traditional retail space into an area that combines living and working with shopping, entertainment, and dining.

In fact, redevelopments like this are probably the only thing that can save retail malls. For if no redevelopments are made, business growth within the retail sector becomes stagnant. When asked what would happen to retail malls that chose to forego any redevelopment, Zach Beaudry, an executive vice president at Colliers International, ,what would happen to retail malls that chose responds with a chuckle. "I'd wish them luck. I think they'd have a hard line to hold to stay fluid in the market." It goes without saying, but in this economy, you either adapt or die.

Tim Simonsen, a senior executive vice president at Colliers International also agrees that change is necessary for these societal staples and says that, "it is impossible not to redevelop and reinvent retail. The continuing evolution of retail space has seen its biggest changes in the last 20 years." Howeyer, he adds that retail real estate will always be an "integral part of people's lives."

REDEVELOP MALLS INTO MIXED-USE BUILDINGS

When it comes to redeveloping the retail real estate space, the solution, it seems, is to rebrand and redevelop these spaces as an environment suited for mixed-use. In other words, shoppers can expect the malls of tomorrow to house everything from movie theaters, restaurants, and health clubs, to office spaces and apartments. Mixed-use spaces are the perfect solution for the shopper looking for a convenient one-stop shop.

While discussing the future of retail malls, Simonsen says that the key to developing the ultimate mixed-use space is more than just leasing out retail spaces to health clubs and movie theaters. In fact, it requires a much more elaborate mix of gaming...