Struggling or shuttered shopping malls are sometimes redeveloped into medical buildings, multifamily residences and even Amazon distribution centers, but some are finding new life as headquarters or campuses for major corporations.
For instance, Fortnite parent Epic Games announced plans earlier this month to buy the Cary Towne Center mall near its current Cary, North Carolina headquarters and turn the 87-acre site into its new corporate HQ.
“Epic has been proud to call Cary home for over 20 years and has immersed itself into the community, often hiring locally and from nearby universities as the company continues to grow and scale,” the company said in revealing its plans.
Local media reported that Epic paid $95 million for the mall, which was built in 1974 but has been struggling for years. Investment firms Turnbridge Equities and Denali Properties bought the site for $31 million in 2019 after the mall had reportedly lost former anchor tenants Dillard’s and JCPenney, and was about 35 percent vacant.
Turnbridge and Denali were planning to demolish the mall and build a mixed-use redevelopment. But now, Epic plans to convert the site into a new campus by 2024 for 2,000+ employees and move them from its current nearby 250,000-square-foot headquarters.
Mayor Harold Weinbrecht of Cary – a town in the heart of North Carolina’s Research Triangle – said in a statement that locals are “extremely proud that Epic has chosen to call Cary home for their new global headquarters, and we greatly appreciate the company’s recognition of Cary’s existing assets as well as the unlimited potential of the area for their growing business.”
“We look forward to continuing to work closely and collaboratively with the Epic team as they conceptualize their new campus, and we’re honored to partner with them on this exciting new development,” he said.
Google’s Plan for California’s Iconic Westside Pavilion
In Los Angeles, Google has similar plans for the former Westside Pavilion, a now-closed 150,000-square-foot shopping center.
Opened in 1985, the site once so epitomized mall culture that it served as the backdrop for Tom Petty’s 1989 “Free Fallin’” music video and for an exterior shot in the 1995 comedy “Clueless.”
But anchor tenants Nordstrom and Macy’s left in the 2010s, according to real estate news site Urbanize Los Angeles. Macerich and Hudson Pacific Properties bought the mall in 2018 with plans to redevelop it.
Only the Landmark Theatres and Westside Tavern restaurant remained open, and COVID-19 restrictions prompted the restaurant to permanently close in October.
However, Google signed a deal in 2019 to lease the site for 14 years after Macerich and Hudson Pacific finish converting it into a 584,000-square-foot office campus in 2022 in a $475 million redevelopment project.
“We are thrilled to expand our relationship with Google, and are proud to support this significant phase of their growth,” Hudson Pacific Chairman and CEO Victor Coleman said in announcing Google’s lease in 2019. “Google’s selection of One Westside demonstrates the strength of the Los Angeles tech and media industries, and exemplifies the type of creative office space that is in demand from large tech and media tenants.”
The mall’s exterior had reportedly been removed as of this summer, with its steel frame set to serve as the office complex’s undergirding. Urbanize Los Angeles reported that the mall’s high ceilings and former atrium “will be used to create a light-filled interior, while its sprawling footprint will allow for floor plans of up to 150,000 square feet, which open onto outdoor terraces.”
A Colorado City Hall Moves to a Former Mall Site
Giant multinational corporations aren’t the only ones moving into former mall sites.
In Englewood, Colorado, the city government’s offices relocated into CityCenter Englewood – a redevelopment of the town’s former Cinderella City Mall – in 2000.
Cinderella City was the largest mall west of the Mississippi River when it opened in 1968, with some 250 stores and restaurants and a 600-seat movie theater. But the mall began to falter in the 1980s, and its last tenant – a Montgomery Ward – closed in 1997.
Today, the original mall has been demolished, and the site houses a mix of retail, entertainment, residential and office spaces, anchored by city offices, the city library and the municipal court.
However, the site is again faltering, and local officials are looking at ways to redevelop it a second time.
“The re-establishment of CityCenter as Englewood’s ‘central place’ would … provide Englewood with improved opportunities to attract and retain employers, retailers and residents,” city Chief Redevelopment Officer Dan Poremba told city councilors in 2019, as per local media.
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