Cities Rediscovering Themselves Following Downtown Mall Demolitions

Some cities are finding new life after failed downtown malls are razed. In Worcester, MA, the Galleria mall opened in the early 1970s as a huge mixed-use complex. It was re-launched in the mid-1990s as an outlet mall. It closed for good in 2006. The mall was demolished in 2010, and now the site is home to an office building and a cancer center. An apartment complex and hotel are going north, and trains to Boston are nearby on a rebuilt downtown street.

Similar incidents are taking place in Burlington, VT, where a $235-million project will replace part of a 1970s-era downtown mall, and in Green Bay, WI, which knocked down a mall for a $50 million headquarters for Schreiber Foods. City leaders suggest that without the failed malls in the way, there is more room for infrastructure and sustainable development, and rediscovering a city’s charm and personality.

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