Isn’t this basically what many single gentlemen did, at least in big cities, through at least the 19th and early 20th centuries? Gentleman’s clubs, hotels that were really one-room apartments, that sort of thing? We just got away from the model because we decided that everyone should move to the suburbs and own a chunk of land instead.
Yes, that’s a good point.
I was having a discussion with someone just the other day about the huge shopping mall near their house that was built in the 1990’s, never had more than 30% occupancy, and is now basically a Kohl’s and a Bass Pro Shops attached to a huge empty space for elderly mall walkers. There are hundreds of places like this scattered all over suburban America.
Our discussion was basically : What if you put together a group of investors and converted that huge mall into a retirement/assisted living community? Two floors of nicely appointed single bedroom apartments where the stores used to be, with the interior hallways decorated like city streets and lit up at night, and the roof over the hallways replaced with glass (assuming it wasn’t already glass) to let in natural light. One end of the “mall” could still hold space for shops and restaurants to cater to the residents as well as outside customers, while the other end of the development would feature a fitness center, cafeteria, movie theater, rec room, meeting spaces and other amenities designed for use by the residents. Residents would have their own attached parking garage, while a parking lot at the public end would service visitors and customers for the restaurants and retail. The rest of the existing parking lot could be removed and converted into a large outdoor green space with walking paths, a playground for visiting grandkids, a garden for resident use, etc… For assisted living needs there would be offices on-site for a small medical staff, security, maintenance and housekeeping.
You could solve two issues at once, creating more (and nicer) spaces for the growing elderly population while at the same time erasing a suburban blight problem that’s been around for close to two decades now.
This is not a bad idea. I wonder what sort of problems you might run into with the extent to which the original construction wasn’t geared toward residences? I’m thinking plumbing, for example, and perhaps construction standards with things like walls, insulation, etc.
One of the older and larger malls here was anchored by a couple large chains that many years ago shut down. The spaces they occupied became the home of a local Cal Trans office and County offices.
Part of the problem of turning buildings like that into nursing facilities is the state and fed requirements for such facilities. They are much stricter than just building an apartment complex. Also remodeling is not always cheaper than just starting from scratch when you consider the amount of work that might be required and the potential for hazardous waste mitigation.
True, although the blight issue with locations like this is becoming a large enough problem that local city/county and even state government could be more than willing to lend aid to a developer looking to do something along these lines, including tax credits, fast-tracking approvals and permits and assisting with access to utilities if needed.
If a local government is motivated enough, and the county already owns or has a tax lien on the property, deals could be made to sell or lease the land to the developer for a song, making construction/remodeling a lot more attractive than buying the same amount of land elsewhere and building from scratch.
Around here, Amazon is buying the abandoned malls up for warehousing and distribution. I have to imagine that’s a lot cheaper and a quicker turnaround with less stringent requirements.
Amazon just built new here. The city made it easy for them.
Oh that’s fine, the ACA only enables illegal aliens, anchor babies, and welfare queens anyway.
Hey what else is going on with the justice department recently
Fuck this Administration SO HARD. Hope they like single payer, because that’s what’s coming eventually. People are tired of the American way of paying for medical care.
Speak for yourself, I feel so patriotic when I see the charges for my recent medical situation reach almost $200,000! I’m just so happy I can devote the rest of my life paying towards the betterment of my betters!
People like to whine and complain about $250 aspirin tablets during a hospital stay, but I bed they’d hop right up out of their hospital beds and sing the Star Spangled Banner if they were priced at $1776. True Americans actually respect this country.
I mean…what the hell are they even thinking?
“Man, this has been a pretty great couple of days for us around the White House. What could we do to fuck this up?”
The Mueller Report is what it is. We haven’t seen it. But…there’s no sign it’s going to seriously move the needle anyway with voters.
What will move the needle?
Healthcare.
Democrats in the 2018 midterms absolutely BUTCHERED Republicans for the ACA repeal votes in 2017. Republicans have been trying to bury all that opposition as best they could…
…and now every Democratic candidate for any major office in 2020 has just been handed a beautiful, gorgeous gift.
Well, yes, they’re mostly pretty decrepit; most of them will spend a good chunk of the next few years in hospitals!
…HOW, exactly?
I assume they’re thinking about their donors, who really want to stop paying those extra taxes. I also assume that a substantial part of their base still thinks Obamacare means free stuff for poor blacks and illegals. It’s just more catering to that narrow slice of America.