Reviving the Dead: Old Malls Find Life with New Uses

By: Ellen Rand, contributing editor, Development

Turning a dead or dying mall into a vibrant new development that brings new life as well as a new form of gathering space to a community seems like the ultimate recycling achievement. By all accounts, however, transformation to new uses is an enormous challenge, for a variety of reasons.

Summer 2011

The Life and Times of a Seattle High-rise

By: Shawn Parry, vice president, Touchstone Corporation

In 2006, 2009 seemed like the ideal time to bring a new Class A office tower into the Seattle market. But by the time the West 8th Tower received a certificate of occupancy on September 9, 2009, the economy was in the tank, real estate values were down 20 to 40 percent, lease rates were down 30 percent and tenant improvement dollars were up by 100 percent.

The Development Obstacle Race

By: Angelo Carusi, Cooper Carry

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. In a development world that included stiff competition for retailers, rising construction costs, a time-consuming entitlement process and reliance on a third-party infrastructure development, developing The Shops at Wiregrass turned obstacles into creative solutions.

Beyond the Glass Tower – Can Buildings Move People?

By: John McColl, executive vice president/ development, office leasing & asset management, Cousins Properties

In the 1800s, the Western and Atlantic Railroad lines ended at a bare patch of Georgia clay nicknamed “Terminus.” As the sticks-and-dirt settlement grew into Atlanta, the name “Terminus” came to mean more than just the end of a line. Today, it marks the entrance to one of the city’s most notable districts.