The nation’s senior population is in desperate need of more affordable housing, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately plagued senior communities. With this need expected to increase alongside aging populations, some developers are looking to abandoned shopping mall sites for innovative opportunities.

Shopping malls nationwide struggled long before the restrictions of COVID-19, as anchor stores like Macy’s have teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. For more than a decade, demolished mall sites have been turned into everything from medical centers and sports team training facilities to Amazon warehouses, car dealerships, and biotech lab spaces, while others have sat vacant.

"If you want to be located in close-in suburbs, this is where the land is" for developers, said June Williamson, chair and associate professor of architecture at the City College of New York.

Williamson pointed to one of the country's oldest malls — Seattle's Northgate Mall, originally built in 1950 — as an example of how this land can be repurposed for housing: The site has undergone construction for the development of a high-density residential building, hotel, planned transit center, and National Hockey League center, among other facilities.

Meanwhile, the mall’s satellite parking lot was turned into senior housing dubbed Aljoya Thorton Place, said Williamson. That housing describes itself as an "urban village" for people who "love the energy of urban life but don't want to live downtown" — a big draw for healthy older residents when looking for a place to live.

AARP surveys have found that three-fourths of people want to age in their home or their community, Arigoni said. Outside of Seattle, Smart Cities Dive has identified four cities with mall site redevelopments that aim to bridge the housing gap for seniors.

Read the full article about shelter housing by Joan Mooney at Smart Cities Dive.